Tarkwa robbers confess

Details are emerging about how the armed robbery at Bogoso in the Western Region was carried out last Sunday in broad daylight.

Four persons arrested by the police in the region for their alleged involvement in the crime that resulted in the shooting and killing of Lance Corporal Nicholas Duku, attached to the Tarkwa Divisional Command, have started talking.

They have described how they carried out the deadly operation in their respective statements given to the police – giving possible leads for the arrest of the other accomplices.

Those apprehended so far include Fredrick Mensah alias Koby or Nana One 32; Mohammed Dauda, 32; Bismark Opoku also called Opambuor, 34 and Charles Kwesi alias Yaw Laryea, 20.

Some of the suspects have described a certain Kwaku Mintah – said to be a popular gospel singer in the Tarkwa area – as the gang leader and mastermind of the deadly operation.

Apart from the four, another batch, believed to be six in number, including the supposed gospel singer, are allegedly at large.

According to the suspects, they came from Bogoso and Accra for the operation and that they were 10 in number.

The police have said that the four arrested suspects admitted carrying out the robbery at the premises of a gold refinery company at Bogoso.

Frederick Mensah

Upon interrogation, Fredrick Mensah told the police that he, together with Kwaku Mintah, one David and Mohamed Dauda, met five other suspects from Accra led by a certain Nat, at a hotel at Bogoso to plan the robbery on April 29.

The police said Mensah indicated that he and Mohamed Dauda, who lives at Bogoso, were tasked to use a Mazda Tribune 4×4 belonging to Dauda, and wait at the outskirt of Bogoso to pick the accomplices from Accra after the robbery.

He revealed that the Accra gangsters brought a Nissan Rogue vehicle with registration number GE 411-16, which was used for the main robbery operation and later abandoned at Opong Valley Junction, near Bogoso.

Fredrick Mensah claimed David and Kwaku Mintah, who had come from Tarkwa, used a Toyota Corolla allegedly belonging to Kwaku Mintah, for monitoring the robbery scene.

Mohammed Dauda

Another suspect, Mohamed Dauda, allegedly corroborated the story of Fredrick Mensah in his statement but added that they made away with an amount of GH¢420,000 and shared it later.

He also confirmed that they were 10 in number, including one Mogabe, who was brought from Tarkwa by Fredrick Mensah.

He told the police that each of them got GH¢45,000 and even said that he suspected the amount robbed could be more than what was stated because he suspected that Fredrick Mensah might have stolen an unspecified amount of money.

He, however, claimed that his share of the booty was with David, who is at large.

Bismark Opoku

Bismark Opoku said that after the robbery, the money was transported in Kwaku Mintah’s Toyota Corolla to a bush near Huni Valley.

“And later I was called by Fredrick Mensah who was in the vehicle, to meet them at the location to carry the money to the roadside,” he allegedly confessed, before stating that the gang from Accra used a Mazda Tribune to follow them.

Bismark Opoku claimed that later he, Fredick Mensah and Charles Kwesi, alighted from the Toyota Corolla and joined a taxi, adding that they were arrested in the taxi by the police.

The fourth suspect, Mohammed Dauda, was later arrested at Bogoso.

Bismark Opoku, however, is insisting that he was not part of the meeting at the hotel in Bogoso prior to the robbery.

Charles Kwesi

The fourth suspect, Charles Kwesi, claimed that he is a friend to Bismark Opoku and that he joined his friend to meet Dauda to carry the stolen money from the bush to the roadside.

Later, Bismark Opoku took investigators to the scene where the money was hidden.

Lance Corporal Nicholas Duku, who was brutally killed, was said to be escorting a huge sum of money to the premises of Plant and Plume Gold Refinery Company, based at Bogoso, when he was shot by some unidentified armed men.

Other sources also had it that officials of the gold refinery approached the Tarkwa Police and requested for police escort to enable them convey money from Bogoso to Tarkwa.

“So when they got to the premises of the gold refinery company, the robbers had already invaded the place and saw the policeman as a threat to their operation and decided to shoot and kill him,” the source added.

DSP Olivia Ewurabena Adiku, Western Regional Police Public Relations Officer, indicated that the suspects were being interrogated by the police to establish which of them really shot the Lance Corporal.

The PRO stressed that the law enforcers would do everything within their power to arrest the rest of the six suspects who are currently at large.

Meanwhile, the Nissan Rogue, which was reportedly used by the robbers from Accra and the Mazda Tribune belonging to Mohamed Dauda, are in police custody as exhibits.