A month report on robberies in Ghana: Churches attacked, two police officers and 4 civilians killed

Over the past four weeks, several robbery cases have been recorded across Ghana. The situation as it is, is painting a picture of a country with a looming security crisis.

Of some robbery cases compiled by GhanaWeb covering the month of January 2021 and the first week of February 2021, the death of two police officers and four civilians were recorded.

Taxi driver shot dead at Mmoatiakrom near Dunkwa-on-Offin

In the late hours of Tuesday, January 12, 2021, unidentified armed robbers attacked and shot dead a Taxi driver at Mmoatiakrom, near Dunkwa-on-offin in the Upper Denkyira East Municipality of the Central Region.

Assemblyman for Denkyira-Essikuma Electoral area who confirmed the incident to the media, said he received a distress call from a resident about the attack and rushed to the scene with the police and officials of the National Disaster Management Organization (NADMO).

The Assemblyman indicates that the team he led on reaching the scene found the deceased lying in a pool of blood in a suspected robbery attack as the phone, money and the taxi of the victim was nowhere to be found.

The deceased only identified as "Culture" and believed to be in his early thirties, left behind a wife and a baby delivered barely three weeks ago.

Armed robbers shoot dead young Policeman escorting bullion van, steal cash, Ak 47



On the afternoon of Tuesday, January 20, 2021, a group of armed robbers attacked a bullion van loaded with cash.

The robbers in the process shot and killed a police officer detached to the van and made away with his AK47 assault rifle as well as a very substantial amount of money contained in the bullion van.

The armed robbery is said to have taken place on the Adansi Fomena road in the Ashanti region of Ghana.

Two persons Martin Tei aged 27 and John Appiah Raymond aged 31 have since been arrested in connection with the robbery.

Pramkese highway robbery: Gunmen kill policeman, injure another



In the first week of February, one of three police officers dispatched to avert a highway robbery on the Akyem Pramkese-Takyiman road, lost his life to bullets fired by robbers.

Lance Corporal Moses Nartey and his colleagues were driven to the robbery scene in a hired taxi and were met with sporadic gunshots by the robbers who had mounted a roadblock.

The deceased police officer was shot in his head and chest whilst his colleague was shot in his thigh.

He was pronounced dead at the Pramkese Health Centre where he and his colleague were rushed for medical attention.

The robbers, however, escaped from the scene sensing residents of the area may have gotten wind of the attack and would have been on their way to cause their arrest.

Ambulance driver shot by armed robbers dies at Korle-Bu

Highway robbers on Thursday, February 4, 2021, at about 1:00, am dawn attacked an ambulance vehicle and shot the driver in the head while he was rushing a pregnant woman in labour from the Akuse Government Hospital to the Eastern Regional Hospital in Koforidua.

The Senior Emergency Medical Technician in charge of the Yilo Krobo Constituency Ambulance vehicle with registration Number GV 644-20, Abraham Tetteh went to pick the woman who was in preterm labour (31 weeks) from the Akuse government Hospital for transfer to the Eastern Regional Hospital.

Having bumped into a robbery operation on the Aseseeso community stretch of the road, the armed robbers thinking the beacon light and blaring sound from the ambulance was that of the police, started shooting at the ambulance resulting in the driver sustaining an injury.

The armed robbers are said to have rushed closer to the Ambulance Vehicle and upon noticing it was not the police, went ahead to demand money from the EMT personnel taken care of the pregnant woman which they collected from her at gunpoint Ghc11 and a mobile phone.

A victim who was in one of the vehicles robbed by the armed robbers got down from the vehicle after the robbers had fled and drove the Ambulance together with the injured officer and the pregnant women to Tetteh Quarshie Memorial Hospital.

The ambulance driver was said to be in critical condition but was resuscitated and referred to Korle Bu Teaching Hospital while the pregnant woman was referred to the Eastern Regional Hospital in Koforidua where she delivered.

Mr Abraham Tetteh however died at Korle Bu Teaching Hospital in Accra Saturday morning where he was on admission.

Upper East Region records two bloody robberies in 11 days, record 2 deaths

Demands for the immediate transfer of the Uppers East Regional Police Commander DCOP Osei Ampofo-Duku became rife following the recording of some bloody robbery cases on the Bolgatanga-Tamale Highway.

Eyewitnesses say two masked robbers opened fire with AK-47 rifles on the highway at Pusu-Namongo, a community in the Talensi District, on a truck driver who was heading from Kumasi with passengers to Burkina Faso to purchase tomatoes and shot another driver on a trailer truck loaded with bags of cement.

One of the incidents which took place on Friday February 5, 2021, according to Starr news resulted in the death of two truck drivers.

“They fired the first driver in the leg. The driver of the truck carrying bags of cement was shot in the head. Nobody could come out from their rooms. The armed robbers were firing haphazardly with AK-47 guns and they were wielding cutlasses. These attacks are now out of control. The Regional Police Commander needs to be replaced as soon as possible because it is clear that he has failed to protect us. These two deaths mean two funerals for some families just like that and nobody can tell if the passengers who were wounded will survive,” one of the eyewitnesses told a terrified crowd at the scene after the attack.

Angry residents say the latest development is the second bloody raid to have rocked the region within eleven days after storekeepers in the Builsa North Municipality had suspended their businesses and locked up their stores in protest over an outbreak of armed robbery invasions on the region’s western flank.

The very spot where Friday’s deadly attack took place was a scene of a similar raid on Monday, January 25, 2021, when a driver and his aides (mates) were shot by four masked armed robbers.

The attack led to the driver and his aides being admitted at the Regional Hospital with life threatening injuries whilst some passengers had various amounts ranging from GH¢10,000 to Gh¢5,000 being taken away from them in the process.

6 armed men storm church, rob praying members of their motorbikes, phones, cash

Mynewsgh.com reported over the weekend that a Church in the Upper East Regional Capital of Bolgatanga, The River of Life International Global Prayer Centre was attacked by armed robbers while service was ongoing on Thursday, February 4, 2021.

The robbers who were said to have arrived at the scene on two motorbikes and a tricycle took the congregants through several drills and robbed them of their cash and personal belongings including phones and other accessories.

The armed men after that carried two motorbikes belonging to the church members into the tricycle and sped off.

Kumasi: Three injured as gunmen attack church during all-night service



Dailymailgh.com have reported that three persons sustained injuries after a gang of armed robbers attacked members of the Action Prayer Ministry in Kumasi during an all-night prayer service over the weekend.

Victims of the incident said to have occurred on Saturday dawn were aged between 2 and 22, and were reportedly hit by bullets when one of the robbers, who was wielding a locally manufactured pistol fired into the congregation forcing others to flee for safety.

Police were said to have rushed to the scene following a distress call and were handed one of the attackers, Sunday Ayine, 22, who was arrested by the church members following the attack.

Seven BB cartridges and one spent empty shell were found by the police at the scene whilst the victims to have been treated at the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital.