IT has now been established that one of the armed robbers who attacked the Apenkwa Mobil Station is an employee of the security firm that helped the police to arrest the armed robbers.
With this new twist, the police are investigating the alleged complicity of Krugger Brent, the security firm. Police sources, however, indicate that the ring leader of the gang, Mark Bafffoe alias Bob, is in fact an employee of Krugger Brent.
The managing director of the company, Mr Henry Osei on his part has denied his outfit’s complicity in the robbery. He insisted that the company which is in charge of security at the filling station was rather instrumental in the arrest of the robbers.
Giving the facts of the case, Superintendent of Police, Mr Charles Torkor, the District Police Commander of the Tesano, said the robbery took place on September 9 at about 2.00 a.m. after Mark, who was detailed to guard the filling station had informed Joseph Kwabena Donkor Baffoe who lives in the same house as him at Achimota about the location of the safe in which money is kept at the station.
The names of the robbers who were arrested were given as Kwabena Donkor, Kwame Amara, Adjoda, Isaac and Baba, a Nigerian.
The others are Site and the leader of the armed robbers known only as Kojo alias “Boogie”, believed to be a hardened criminal and the one said to have masterminded the raid on Rev Yaw Owusu-Ansah’s residence about two months ago.
He said that investigations revealed that the robbery was initially planned to take place on September 3 but could not come on because Joseph, the organiser, could not get a vehicle for the operation.
Mr Torkor said that on the day of the robbery, Mark feigned sickness and another guard, Isaac Yamoah, was asked to replace him.
He said that in spite of his condition, Mark decided to go to work in mufti and went to lie on a bench at the station. He said that while Mark and Yamoah were at the station, Joseph went and organised eight other colleagues to undertake the robbery with a car that belongs to one of the suspects, Ebenezer Amaglo.
Mr Torkor said that when the armed robbers got to the station, they pretended they were making calls in a telephone booth adjacent to the station and suddenly attacked the guards at gun point.
He said that a locally made gun was pointed at the head of Mark to create the impression that they did not know him in any way while Yamoah was tied up.
He said that they took the safe away to a secret location near a refuse dump at Achimota where it was forced open and an amount of ?11 million found in it was shared among them.
He said that three ring leaders Ebenezer Amaglo, Joseph Kwame Donkor and Yaw Badu took ?2 million each while the rest of the money was shared by the other six members of the gang.
He said that a report was made to the police by workers of the station and Isaac Yamoah and Mark Baffoe were arrested as suspects.
He said that for three days, the police could not get information to prefer charges against the suspect and were, therefore, granted police enquiry bail. Mr Torkor said that Mark was granted bail when two persons stood surety for him, one of whom was Joseph Donkor on the Sept 11.
He said that when the police had information that implicated Mark and Joseph, a joint police and military operation was mounted to re-arrest the two but a raid in their house yielded no result.
He said that when officials of Krugger Brent had information that Mark Baffoe and Joseph Kwabena Donkor were instrumental in the robbery, they caused their arrest and handed them over to the police.
He noted that through interrogation, the names of the other members of the gang were revealed which led to the arrest of Ebenezer Amaglo and Yaw Badu at Nsawam. He said that when a search was conducted in the room of Ebenezer, the team found a pump action gun and a locally made pistol with eight rounds of ammunitions for the two guns.
He mentioned other members of the group as Rafic Haruna, Isaac Kayika, and Kwabena and Asamoah Cudjoe Christopher, who is a Togolese national.
He said that the last suspect called Kyei is on the run and investigations are continuing. Police sources said Boogie who is in cells has been terrorising residents at Nsawam and surrounding areas and has admitted to three robberies already and investigations are underway to determine other criminal activities he has participated in and his accomplices.
Giving his version of the story in an interview, Mr Osei pointed out the although one of the suspects in the robbery Mark Bafffoe alias Bob was employed by the company two weeks ago as a trainee, the company arrested him after the police granted him bail because they did not feel comfortable with the police action, reports Salome Donkor. He said that this action led to the arrest of the two people who granted Baffoe bail and the subsequent arrest of the others at Nsawam.
Expatiating on the issue, he said that after the said robbery, two night guards of the company, Baffoe and Isaac Yamoah, were arrested and detained by the Tesano Police for interrogation. He said that they were baffled by the fact that within three days, Baffoe was granted bail leaving the other in cells. He said that not satisfied with the police action, they re-arrested Baffoe and followed up to arrest the two people who stood sureties for him.
He said that the two led them to the hideout of the rest of the gang at Nsawam who were also arrested with the help of the police/military patrol team.
Mr Osei said that they did not call personnel of the Tesano Police to help them in the arrest because they were not satisfied with the way they handled the first arrest. He said that Baffoe alleged that the police took money from him and consequently granted him bail.
Mr Osei said that when they also questioned the investigator about the release of the suspect he told them that the crime officer ordered him to grant bail to Baffoe after sending him a hand-written note.
He explained that the company did not pick Baffoe from the street but that he brought a letter from his former company, Golden Panthers, also a security firm which testify to the good character of the suspect.
