Carjackers arrested

The Asawase Police in Kumasi have arrested two people suspected to be part of a gang hijacking cars in the city.

The arrest came as police investigators, acting upon tipoff, recovered two stolen cars in a house at Asokore-Mampong, a suburb of Kumasi, being the home of Tanko Bawa, one of the suspects, on July 16, 2013.

ASP Yusif Mohammed Tanko, Public Relations Officer of the Ashanti Regional Police Command, told DAILY GUIDE the arrest of Bawa, 38, led to the arrest of another member of the syndicate, Issaka Alhassan, a driver.

According to him, the 34-year-old driver was mentioned to the detectives as the one behind the stolen Toyota Corolla and Opel Astra saloon cars whose original number plates had been changed.

He said Issaka was arrested from his hideout at Wiamoase-Peposo where another Opel Astra with a fake number plate, AS 9427-13 was found.

ASP Tanko narrated that the Corolla, which had been registered GT 7862 X, had its number plate removed by the robbers at the time of its recovery.

He continued that the Opel Astra, on the other hand, had GR 3352-12 embossed as its registration number, while the road worthy certificate carried AS 678-W as the registration number.

The police PRO added that the other Opel Astra retrieved from the house of Alhassan at Wiamoase-Beoposo was hijacked from its owner at Kwamo on June 24, 2013.

Its registration number plate had also been removed by the robbers when police recovered it on July 16, with a new number plate, AS 9427-13, embossed on it.

Mr. Tanko said the owner had since identified the car as his with the original registration number being AS 678-W.

He disclosed that checks at the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Authority (DVLA) revealed that the Opel Astra saloon car found in the house of Tanko Bawa had a Kia Frontier truck number on it.

He said that both men had been remanded into police custody to assist the police with investigations into the operations of the syndicate in order to track other members.