Asankrangwa killer robbers busted

Six out of seven suspected armed robbers who allegedly shot and killed a Sprinter bus driver on the Asankrangwa-Manso-Amenfi road in the Western Region have been arrested by the police.

The driver, Anthony Oppong, 53, was driving the bus, registered AW 1999-14, when he was purportedly shot dead by the robbers.

The bus was said to be carrying passengers from Samreboi in the region to Kumasi when the vehicle was attacked by the robbers around Sureso, near Asankrangwa.

It is alleged that the attack, which occurred in the early hours of the Republic Day (Wednesday, July 1), left some of the passengers wounded.

The body of the deceased, DAILY GUIDE gathered, had been deposited at the Enchi Government Hospital for autopsy.

The armed robbers reportedly blocked the road at Sureso and stopped the bus, when it got there. They allegedly shot repeatedly at the vehicle, killing the driver instantly at about 4:30 am.

The merciless gangsters, who had then taken total control of the road, allegedly robbed the seven passengers of their monies and other valuables.

DCOP Isaac Alex Quainoo, Western Regional Police Commander, confirming the crime to DAILY GUIDE, mentioned the names of the six arrested suspects as Fatawu Fuseini, Kwesi Acheampong, Kojo Owusu, Kojo Dubin, Ibrahim Jackson and Yaw Frimpong. Their ages were not immediately known.

DCOP Quainoo disclosed that some of the robbers were in the process of going to board vehicles at Asankrangwa to unknown destinations when the police were tipped-off and three of them were arrested. They are Kwesi Acheampong, Kojo Owusu and Kofi Dubin.

Later, the police had information that some four persons had been spotted at the robbery scene and when they (police) got there the suspects ran into the bush, but were given a hot chase and with the assistance of some residents, one of them was apprehended.

The rest of the robbers were pursued by a hunter who knew the terrain very well, accompanied by the police.

“The robbers opened fire on the hunter and he also returned fire and captured one of them, Fatawu Fuseini, a Burkinabe. He mentioned one Ibrahim Jackson as the one who recruited them,” DCOP Quainoo posited.

He continued that Yaw Frimpong was also arrested later adding, “Some of them might have escaped but they will go nowhere. We will arrest them in no time.”

According to him, items found on the suspects included two machetes, locally manufactured pistol and a rifle.

DCOP Quainoo praised the hunter and members of the community for their courage that led to the arrest of the suspects.