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Correspondence from the Eastern Region
A terrifying ordeal involving three robbers at Ogome, a suburb of Somanya in the Eastern Region has left a mobile money operator who fell victim to the crime terrified.
The victim is coming forward days after it happened to share his story.
He's hoping others, especially his colleague MOMO vendors, will hear what he has to say about losing his capital and other items that were forcefully taken away by the gang.
Three robbers, including a female, around 6:30pm on Monday, October 23, 2023, launched a daredevil robbery act on the Gaso Filling station and a mobile money vendor located at Ogome, a suburb of Somanya.
Eight robbers, including a female, in a similar fashion, robbed the SP Gas filling station, located less than 200 meters from the Gaso filling station on October 11, 2023.
The three robbers are suspected to be part of the same gang of eight who struck at the SP Gas station earlier.
Speaking in an exclusive interview with GhanaWeb, Nsiah Hayford Nii who has operated his business for the past four years recounted how a gun-wielding man appeared from nowhere, pointed a gun at him and demanded his money.
“On Monday, I was here around 6:30 pm and while preparing to close, a man appeared and pointed a gun at me and ordered me to bring my money. He cocked the gun and I ran out of the shop. I fell and he shot in my direction but I managed to escape,” the scared victim narrated.
His assailant entered his shop, ransacked the place and took all cash including coins amounting to about GH¢28,000.
He added, “He entered the shop, packed everything including all my money, my capital.”
According to him, the other two robbers were at the same time attacking the Gaso filling station located next to his shop.
Hayford said the robbers, for about eight minutes, shot indiscriminately throughout the operation, scaring away everybody.
The MOMO vendor said in the course of fleeing the scene, he and other terrified residents met some military men buying kenkey not far away from the scene.
Though he couldn’t tell if they were armed, he said the four officers ignored them when they informed them that armed robbers had attacked the community.
“They didn’t even mind us, they just jumped into their pick-up and drove away,” he recounted.
The robbers who launched their attack on foot from the bush, disappeared into the bush after the act.
The three, while escaping, met two young men and shot them without any provocation, one in the leg and the other in the arm.
Hayford said the incident has left him with great fear. Aside from this, he said he’s lost all his capital to restart his business.
“We don’t know if they’ll return if we restart our businesses, I’ll return to work but where am I going to get the capital? So, we’re filled with fear,” he expressed.
He called for regular police patrols and barriers in the area to combat the armed robbery menace.
Residents express fear, call for increased security
Meanwhile, some residents who witnessed the robbery incident have called for increased security in the area.
Madam Nuer Cynthia is a provisions seller next to the filling station and a mobile money merchant. She recounted how the robbers carried out the attack.
She said, “I was in the shop and heard gunshots, I thought it was a knockout, my son came out of the shop to see what was going on and said, ‘armed robbers.’ In fright, we abandoned the shop and ran for our dear lives. We stood somewhere as the gunfire sounded for several minutes.”
Adding that the incident has left them terrified, she appealed for increased police presence in the area to avert similar incidents.
Christian Asare, a barber also said, “We’re not safe…we’re afraid, they should deploy soldiers to this area to protect us.”
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