Thieves set shops ablaze after burglary

Kumasi, May 30, GNA - Thieves and armed robbers, who operate in the Ashanti Region, have now adopted arson as their new mode of operation to outwit their victims.

They set shops they burgled ablaze after making away with valuable items to evade detection by their victims. Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) Frank Adu-Poku, the Ashanti Regional Police Commander, who disclosed this, attributed the current incessant fire outbreaks in shops, especially in the Kumasi metropolis to the new trick.

He was interacting with newsmen at the Regional Police Headquarters on Monday after a gang of five suspected thieves was rounded up in Kumasi.

The suspects were arrested on Sunday, when they attempted to break into a number of shops at the Kumasi Central Market. They are Yaw Atia, 28, Ayidana Frafra, 30, Ayimbilla Atia, 25, Yusif Alhaji, 35, and Tahiru Mahama, 44, all errands boys at the market. ACP Adu-Poku said the suspects sneaked into the market and as they attempted to break into some shops, police personnel, who were ambushed on a tip-off, swooped on them.

He said Mahama, leader of the gang, disclosed to the police during interrogation that they have wanted to make away with a cash of 70 million cedis, which they believed had been kept in one of the shops. A number of carpentry tools were retrieved from the suspects. They will be put before court after police investigations.