Agbogbloshie robbery gang leader arrested

The Accra Regional Police Command has finally arrested a 38-year-old suspected armed robber who led a syndicate to terrorize residents of Agbogbloshie and its environs in Accra.

The suspect Yakubu Alidu, aka Bullet was arrested together with a member of his gang called Mohammed Iddrisu, 20, at their hideout at Weija in Accra.

Bullet, who was armed, allegedly led a gang of 10 suspected robbers to vandalize property and attacked some of the victims with machetes.

Other victims were also shot by the suspect, who is feared in the area.

Briefing the media on Thursday, the Accra Regional Police Commander, DCOP Osabarima Oware Asare Pinkro III, said Alidu and his accomplice were arrested together with other suspected criminals during a swoop at about 4am on Thursday.

The suspect, who has been terrorizing residents of Agbogbloshie for the past three months, has been on the wanted list of the police for some time now.

A bench warrant was issued for his immediate arrest by an Accra Circuit Court.

On February 2, 2017, he said the police received a report from one of Alidu’s victims, who sustained multiple machete wounds on his body.

The victim, identified as Samiru Abdulai, a resident of Old Fadama, reported to the police that at about 9am on that morning, a group of men led by Alidu demanded money from him when he was putting up a structure at Kokomba market, near Agbogbloshie Market.

The victim said when he refused to give them money, they attacked him with a machete and bolted.

While the case was under investigation, the police also received another report on February 2, 2017 from two traders at the Konkomba Market named Philip Kofi Anderson and Sylvester Baffour that the suspect and his men had attacked and robbed other residents of their money and mobile phones.

Alidu and his gang, numbering about 10, again on March 3, 2017 attacked a drinking spot known as Konkonsah Drinking Bar and robbed the merry-makers of their properties.

Some of the victims, who declined to surrender their monies and phones, were brutalized.

The suspects, who were wielding cutlasses, guns and other offensive weapons, damaged a gambling machine at the drinking spot, stole an unspecified amount of money from the bar owner as well.

The suspects fled but there were empty bullet shells at the scene.

The suspects were immediately placed on the police wanted list, which led to his arrest.

He would be arraigned before court after investigations.