Police call for public help to trace suspected taxicab

The police have appealed to the public to help trace a taxicab with registration number GR 5109, a white and yellow Hyundai Excel, which is believed to hold the key to the latest string of murders.

A middle-aged woman was found dead at the Spintex Road on Monday, bringing the alleged serial killing of women in recent times to 30. Mr Peter Nanfuri, Inspector General of Police, said at a press conference in Accra that: "I suspect the vehicle may have been re-sprayed by now or that the number plate may have been changed".


He said he was sure that someone out there must have information on the vehicle and its driver. "I plead with the public to help the police apprehend the driver," he said.


Mr Nanfuri said the police "and the Inter-Agency Task Force on the serial murders have been gratified by the significant foreign assistance it is receiving in the investigations of the serial murders. "Most of our foreign collaborators do not wish to be publicly identified as they do not wish to become embroiled in the apparent politicisation of those criminal activities."


The IGP said investigations have been completed on some of the cases and the dockets are with the Attorney General's Department for advice. The IGP said the case of one Mawuli, alleged to be involved in the Dansoman murder, and that of Ankaful one would be prosecuted soon.


Mr Nanfuri said the police have been at pains to establish the motive behind the murders at to whether they were the work of a psychopath or psychopaths, for ritual purposes or for and other sinister reasons. "Whatever it is, the latest incidents compel us to look beyond the world of mere criminals. In other words, we are going to broaden the scope of our investigations to get to the very bottom of the matter.


He regretted that some of the information given to the police has been scanty or turned out to be false alarms and yet the police appreciate the public spirit of all those who continue to call to offer information. Mr Nanfuri again appealed to women's groups, civil society and religious bodies to help step up public education to sensitise and protect women.

He said the police would re-introduce night patrol barriers, which were reduced following public outcry that they were being inconvenienced.


On calls for his resignation, Mr Nanfuri said he was not going to resign because the police could not unravel the mysteries surrounding the serial killings. He said this was the time to seize the bull by the horn and appealed to the public and the media to bear with the police.


"It will be a disgrace to resign; it will be cowardly and defeatist to do so. It is a challenge to us to investigate and find out ways and means to arrest the culprits," he said.


He said it would take time to unravel the mysteries surrounding the killings, adding: "we know that we can do it but it will take time to come out with any arrests".


Mr Nanfuri said he could not assure the public that the murders would not continue since criminals are always around. He declined to comment on speculations that the police are dragging their feet in coming out with the culprits because some top political parties and powerful men are involved.


He however assured the public that the police would broaden its scope of investigations to get to the bottom of the killings. He said that information given out so far had been sifted but turned to be either scanty or false alarms.