The police have in their custody three men who allegedly used a vehicle belonging to a church to burgle shops and steal from people at Awudome, Kaneshie and their environs in Accra.
The police gave the names of the suspects as lsaac Adusei Boadi, 24, Ishmael Ahenkorang, 20, and Enoch Fianco, 20, who is said to be the leader of the gang.
Three accomplices who escaped arrest are currently being looked for by the police.
They are said to be behind break-ins into shops and robbery attacks on residents of Awudome, Kaneshie and surrounding areas.
A taxi driver whose identity has been withheld was said to have called the police when he saw the robbers breaking into a shop, and he later blocked the vehicle the robbers were attempting to escape in.
Botched robbery attempt
Briefing the Daily Graphic, the Deputy Public Relations Officer (PRO) of the Accra Regional Police Command, Inspector Bright Kwabena Danso, said on October 28, 2019, personnel from the command on patrol duties around Awudome received a distress call from the Ghana Police Service Information Room that some suspected criminals were breaking into a shop at Awudome.
The patrol team, he said, went to the location and met the gang who upon seeing the police, abandoned their operation and jumped into their waiting vehicle, a green Toyota Hiace bus with registration number GE 4294-12 in an attempt to escape arrest.
Inspector Danso said with the help of the taxi driver, the police arrested two members of the gang, Boadi and Ahenkorang, after the taxi driver had chased and blocked the gang’s vehicle with his taxi at a point.
He said Boadi told the police during interrogation that he was recruited for the robbery operation by a man he named as Nana Kwame, alias Abele, who is currently at large.
For his part, Ahenkorang said he was recruited by Boadi who he approached for a loan of GH¢200 to enable him to solve a problem he was facing.
Church bus driver
Though Fianco, said to be the mastermind behind the gang, was able to escape initially, he was apprehended not long afterwards and handed over to the police by the pastor of a church at Akim Manso in the Eastern Region, which owned the vehicle used for the robbery.
The church had bought the vehicle for Fianco to use for commercial purposes, but the police said their initial investigations established that he had been using it for criminal activities.
The police has declined to reveal the identity of the pastor or his church.
