The suspects, the stolen Honda Accord and the weapons retrieved from them
The police in the Ashanti Region have appealed to members of the public to assist in arresting two members of a notorious robbery syndicate after killing one member and arresting two belonging to the group.
Kwaku Asare, 30, was gunned down when he purportedly attempted to escape from the hands of police investigators, who had arrested him and Philip Kwadwo Danso as well as Daniel Kwadwo Asamoah, last Sunday and Monday at different suburbs of Kumasi.
Speaking at a press briefing yesterday in Kumasi, DCOP Ken Yeboah, Ashanti Regional Police Commander, said the trio confessed being members of the five-man robbery gang that attacked and robbed some Chinese expatriates at Obuasi over the weekend.
According to him, the suspects, armed with a pump-action gun and two locally made pistols, raided the Obuasi Council Quarters – residence of the Chinese nationals – and robbed them of their Honda Accord saloon car registered AC 1534–16.
The suspected robbers, who were in masks and had dressed in military uniform, took away 10 mobile phones, two laptops, a pump action gun and GH?3,000 – all belonging to the Chinese expatriates, the police chief disclosed.
DCOP Ken Yeboah narrated further that when the complainants made a report to the police, a lookout message was sent to all patrol teams and personnel on the road to arrest the suspects and impound the vehicle.
On Monday, April 24, 2017, at about 3:30 pm, some officers at the Regional Anti-Armed Robbery Unit, acting on intelligence, arrested Philip Kwadwo Danso, 28 and Daniel Kwadwo Asamoah, 30, with the Honda Accord vehicle at a washing bay at Krofrom, a suburb of Kumasi.
DCOP Yeboah said the suspects had removed the original number plates of the car and replaced them with DV 3536–17 at the time of their arrest, and explained that they had done so to outwit the unsuspecting public and the law enforcers.
He stated that the duo mentioned Kwaku Asare, one Acheampong aka IK, Kwasi aka Salasie and Yaw as their accomplices.
They led the police to arrest Kwaku Asare at his Sofoline hideout in Kumasi and helped the law enforcers to retrieve two pump action guns, two locally made pistols and a cartridge at Philip Kwadwo Danso’s residence at Obuasi.
The police commander revealed that Kwaku Asare, in the course of the police investigation, attempted to escape, but he was shot in the process and died instantly. The body, the police officer said, had been deposited at the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital.
DCOP Yeboah said the police found out during investigation that Acheampong, Philip Kwadwo Danso and the deceased had been declared wanted for their alleged involvement in a series of robberies at Chinese mining sites at Manso-Watreso and its surrounding areas.
From Ernest Kofi Adu, Kumasi