Stealing is different from robbery - Police Commander

Tema, 30th July 1999 - The Tema Regional Police Commander Mr Joe Dankwa on Friday appealed to the media to distinguish between stealing and robbery in their reportage. This is to avoid creating a sense of insecurity among the population.

Mr Dankwa was reacting to a report on an alleged Sakomono robbery last Monday afternoon, in which three men were arrested. He said "in our ordinary daily life, we come across a lot of stealing cases and these should not be upgraded to robbery", to heighten people's sense of insecurity.

He explained that the information he has on the Sakomono case from his men, on the ground, is that they consider it to be ordinary stealing, adding, "I only confirmed that it is stealing and not robbery". Mr Frederick Sosi, the occupant of the house, where the alleged armed robbery took place, had told journalists that one of the suspects, who managed to escape was holding a gun and a knife, when the four men jumped over the wall into the house. Kwame Antwi, 20, who claimed, it was the first time he was recruited from the Komkomba market in Accra, for such an operation, assured the Police of his full co-operation.