New Ningo robbery: Gang leader not a Prince – Palace clears air

The Gambibgo Palace, where Muntaka Mohammed, a wanted crime suspect managed to escape police arrest Sunday, has cleared the air, saying the suspect is not a prince.

Police had indicated at a news conference held Monday that Muntaka was a grandson to the Chief, in what led to an impression that the suspect was a royal and for that matter a prince. The police, however, did not say he was a prince.

But speaking to Starr News, one of the chief’s sons, Prince Sadik Ayine Inusah, said Muntaka’s father did not hail from the palace and was, therefore, not recognised as a royal there.

“The said Muntaka is not from Gambibgo. His uncle house is in Gambibgo. His mother is from Gambibgo, married to a man but he’s not a prince. His father is a Ga, resident in Tamale, married to my sister. His uncle’s house is our house. His mother got married to a Ga man in Accra and gave birth to Muntaka and they are living in Accra. So, he’s not a prince. He is not from Gambibgo. He only came to his uncle’s house,” Prince Sadik explained.

We supported Police to arrest Suspects — Palace

Prince Sadik, who is said to have openly rebuked Muntaka the moment he spotted him with a questionable company who came with him to the palace, also spoke of the collaboration the family accorded the police during a swoop Sunday.

“For us, we have already made it a norm in the community that we don’t want any bad character in the community. So, if anybody does anything somewhere and thinks that he can hide in Gambibgo, we would collaborate with the police to do that arrest for the law to take its course.

“We have done many good things, even [caused the prosecution of] somebody who came to hide at Gambibgo a few months back. He was sentenced to three years. Another person was aiding the stealing of cattle to be slaughtered at a slaughter house. We collaborated for the person’s arrest and he was prosecuted. So, when this people also came and they thought that they could seek refuge here, we also collaborated with the police,” said Prince Sadik.

Background of Crime

Police told journalists Monday a gang of armed robbers led by Muntaka attacked an orphanage at New Ningo in the Ningo-Prampram District of the Greater Accra region in November, last year, before fleeing to Gambibgo where they were arrested last Sunday.

Muntaka, who escaped during Sunday’s heavy raid, was captured late-night hours later at the Bolgatanga-Tamale Bus Terminus whilst trying to flee to the Northern region.

His confessions led to the arrests of four more suspects, including two men said to be pastors, who reportedly had plotted an armed robbery attack on a gold businessman at a mining site at Gbani, a community in the Talensi District of the same region.

Three foreign pistols, four magazines with their ammunition, eighty-six pieces of 9mm ammunition, a short gun and twelve BB cartridges were retrieved from Rasta-haired Muntaka, according to the police who also displayed the said weapons during a news conference prior to a public parade of the suspects, some of whom stood with swollen eyes.

Also on the parade was another suspect with artificial dreadlocks, Aduku Wahabu Awinitit, alias Bullet, who was picked up at a “hotel” at Binaba in the Bawku West District. He was wanted for his reported role in a series of robbery incidents at Ashaiman in the Greater Accra region.

“The chief was not aware the suspects were at his palace. We took the palace by surprise,” the Upper East Regional Police Commander, DCOP Redeemer Vincent Dedjoe, had disclosed at Monday’s news conference.

Meanwhile, the Upper East Regional Police Command has announced all ten suspects would be handed over to the police command at Tema for prosecution.