8 Suspects arrested in Antoa shrine robbery

The Police in Kenyasi have arrested a total of 8 people in connection with the robbery that rocked the ‘strong room’ of the Antoa shrine in the Ashanti region.

Police in the Kwabre East district of the Ashanti region arrested 3 more people for the role in the robbery of the Antoa black stool and other regalia. 5 people were earlier arrested earlier.

Despite these arrests, the whereabouts of the black stool and the other items has not been traced.

The theft occurred some three weeks ago leaving residents in shock of how brazen and daring the alleged thieves were to storm a ‘powerful’ shrine and rob.

Kenyasin District Police Commander, DSP Emmanuel Adu Boahene in an interview said “8 people have been picked up by the police, their statements have been taken and they are all under police inquiry bail.

“What we’ve also done so far is that we’ve taken their fingerprints and we’ve compiled all these finger prints and we’ve sent them to Accra for classification and verification to see whether or not these persons are connected to the fingerprints we had from the scene of the crime.”

Antoa Nyamaa is a popular river god deity with its shrine located at Antoa in the Ashanti Region in Ghana.

Asked about the whereabouts of the stolen items, DSP Adu Boahene said “we don’t know where it is, we don’t know which people took it and that is why we are gathering information to trace the stolen items.”

He indicated that the suspects picked up are assisting the police trace the items because they were the only ones who have access into the shrine which is not an open place for just anyone to enter.

He indicated that a chief who was in charge of the shrine has also been picked up, all those living in the house have also been picked up and even persons who visited the house within a certain period of time are also in police grips.

He also added that the police are suspecting foul play and there is the possibility of an insider helping those who probably stole the items.