Cross-border vehicle thief nabbed

Johnson Frank Awunie, a suspected robber believed to be operating on the Ghana/Togo border, is in the grips of the Aflao police.

He was arrested at a police snap checkpoint at Tokor-Denu on November 2. A Togolese registered cross-country vehicle with registration number  TG6 566 AM snatched from its owner at Adidogorme, near Lome by a gang of robbers was retrieved.

Awunie was suspected to be driving the stolen vehicle to Accra to look for buyers.

Mr Emmanuel Odonkor, Aflao District Police Commander told the Ghana News Agency (GNA) that on that day, Awunie, 27, whose nationality remained in doubt, was flagged to stop at the checkpoint.

He said the officers became suspicious upon finding both wind shades (front door glasses) of the vehicle shattered.

Mr Odonkor said Awunie told the police he was on an errand to fetch a fetish priest from a shrine at Nogokpo to revive a dying relative of the owner of the vehicle.

He said the suspicion of the police heightened when the suspect failed to mention the right name on a Togolese driving license found on the vehicle and so arrested him.

Mr Odonkor said a check with the Togolese authorities revealed that the vehicle was snatched from its owner, one Anthony Kwojovie, of Kwodjoviakope when he was returning home at about 2330 hours on November.

He said the Togolese security said four men riding on two motorbikes waylaid and snatched the vehicle and in the process shattered both wind shades with cutlasses.

Mr Odonkor said the gang inflicted wounds on the victim and the female friend he was travelling with, both of whom fled and reported the incident to the police.

A magistrate court at Agbozume has remanded Awunie into police custody to be brought before the court again on November 13.