Madina Police bust suspected armed robbers

Madina, Dec. 7, GNA - Three suspected armed robbers/car-jackers have been busted by the Madina Divisional Police Command at Babayara, a suburb of Madina in the early hours of last Friday, December 3, 2010. They are Daniel Adjei alias Ras, 20, who worked with the Legon Sports Directorate as Storekeeper under the NYEP Programme, Kwabena Dankwa alias Bobby, 25, unemployed, and Frank Sarpong alias Amonia, 24. Adjei and Dankwa were arrested in the process of offering a stolen Nissan Quest 2007 Model for sale at the value of 22,000 Dollars to a Police undercover agent at Babayara.

The third suspect, Sarpong, was also arrested as an accomplice soon after the vehicle was stolen from the premises of Jaria Hotel at East Legon. According to the police, a fourth person whose name was given as Isaac Annan had escaped and was being sought. Speaking to the press, the Madina Divisional Police Commander, Chief Superintendent of Police (CSP) Paul Ayitey, said acting on intelligence, the three youngmen who were wielding a Revolver, 13 rounds of ammunition and 2 bread-knives were arrested by police operatives.

The Divisional Commander said suspects Adjei and Dankwa who lived in the same area at East Legon established friendship with suspects Sarpong and Annan, adding that all were workers of the Jariah Hotel in East Legon. "In the course of their relationship, they hatched a plan to steal a Nissan Quest vehilce with registration number GT 8652 Z belonging to the Hotel.

The robbers then began looking for a buyer and in the process, Adjei and Dankwa, through the assistance of a friend yet to be identified, contacted a police undercover agent who feigned interest in buying the car. CSP Ayitey indicated that series of meetings were held at various locations, including East Legon and Madina to finalize the purchase deal, and that on December 2, 2010, under the cover of darkness, Sarpong and Annan stole the original keys to the vehicle from the key rack in the hotel reception and replaced them with fake keys. The next day, Adjei and Dankwa using the original key, stole the vehicle from where it was parked to a secret location at Babayara, a suburb of Madina. The suspects then made a call to the supposed buyer to meet them at the secret location and that he should bring along an amount of 22,000 Dollars.

Commander Ayitey added that, information was then passed on to the police who laid ambush and arrested the two suspects on their arrival at the meeting place. During a search at the crime scene, the police found one revolver pistol, 13 pieces of ammunition, two bread-knives and the removed number plates of the vehicle.

During interrogation, Adjei claimed ownership of the weapon and admitted stealing it from the Legon Sports Directorate, where he worked as Storekeeper. All the suspects also confessed their involvement in the crime but denied involvement in an earlier discussion with another police undercover agent, in which they were offering two other stolen Toyota Camry cars for sale. According to Commander Ayitey, the suspects had allegedly been bragging over those two cars and that the police were investigating to ascertain the veracity of the story on the Toyota Camry vehicles. He said Adjei was involved in another car stealing case being investigated at the Police Headquarters in Accra and added he might be among other car stealing cases within the Accra Metropolis. The Divisional Commander urged people who employed caretakers in their various businesses to contact the police to help conduct background searches before they are taken on. He also noted that recent trends of robberies in homes had often been with the assistance of house-helps or caretakers, and appealed to business owners not to reveal their business plans with their employees since there was the likelihood they could pass on the information to gangsters or robbers. 07 Dec. 10