Aryee Ayittey, alias Ataa Ayi, 32, described by the police as the country's most wanted armed robber said he would have left Ghana for Germany, but for the fraudulent activities of visa contractors.
Ayittey, alias "one Touch" and "Baba", among a host of nicknames, has confessed that he masterminded 38 successful robberies in the Accra Metropolis since he started his operations five years ago. He was arrested at his hideout at Teshie in Accra after years of police operations to track him down.
The robber, whose picture had been posted on a billboard by the Greater Accra Regional Police Command, had a ?30million ransom on his head. Ayittey, a mechanic told newsmen at his police cells at the Greater Accra Regional Command that his modus operandi included keeping surveillance on people who withdrew large sums of money from the banks and pursuing them to their destinations and robbing them in broad daylight. Ayittey, who was wearing a big talisman around his neck said he was behind the robbery of ?144million from a Japanese, who died in the attack. "That was my only operation that led to the death of the victim", he said in Ga.
He claimed that most of his victims exaggerated the amount of money the robbers snatched from them. "There was no time we ever robbed anyone of ?500milion." Ayittey said when he and his gang seized cars in their operations, they sold them to one Adams at the Kokomba market. They also bought their weapons mainly AK 47, G-3 and pistols from one Alhaji at Nima.
His 26-year-old girldfriend, Lizzy Imoro, a caterer, who has a baby girl with him told newsmen he had threatened to kill her if she dumpted him. ACP Kofi Boakye, Greater Accra Regional Police Commander told newsmen that the arrest of Ataa Ayi marked the end of generation of armed robbers.
