Armed robbers strike again

Mon, 12 Sep 2005 Source: Chronicle

... Bob Okala, Adofo among ?ambushed?victims
... Kill pastor, pregnant woman
Two deadly strikes within 24 hours on Saturday and Sunday in and around the Tema municipality by gunmen left a pastor and a pregnant woman dead, compelling the security agencies, to re-strategise in order to regain lost ground after the unexpected blows were delivered.
One of the armed robbers, wearing the looks of a Fulani, was found dead when the dust finally settled, after police exchanged fire with the gangsters.
The pastor, Charles Borromee, believed to be a Togolese national and student at the Faculty of Theology, in an Ivorian university, was killed at Bundase, about 300 metres from the military camp junction on the Tema?Aflao highway, and the dead armed robber lay about two yards from that of the Togolese pastor.
Exactly 24 hours later, about 0230hrs on Sunday, gunmen, as if to taunt the security agencies, recaptured Golf City, a suburb of Tema, near Michel Camp, which they lost to the joint security patrol team about two months ago, terrorized three homes and celebrated the killing of the pregnant woman said to be 24 years old, the wife of a scrap dealer, a Rau.
On Saturday at about 0200hrs, ace comedian, Bishop Bob Okala and highlife musician, S.S. Adofo, aka Black Chinese, were on board a bus travelling to the Volta Region to stage concert shows.
According to the two men, who spoke to The Chronicle at the scene, corroborated by other victims, on reaching the spot, they saw obstacles placed in the road, and parked ahead of the semi-blockade were two articulated trucks, almost side by side, so their bus, as expected slowed, and the next thing was the rattling of gunshots, demobilising the bus.
Gun-totting men, wearing masks, emerged from the coastal savannah and ordered them at gunpoint to surrender all monies in their possession, amid slaps, and when the gangsters robbed them of cash, jewelries and mobile phones, ordered them to lie prostrate on the ground.
At least, four other vehicles went through similar ordeal and then arrived an Ivorian long passenger bus, Continental Transport International [CTI], plying between Cotonou, Benin Republic, and Abidjan, the Ivory Coast, which was sprayed with bullets.
The helpless passengers were robbed of every every currency.
The eyewitness account went on to say that, a man from the CTI bus attempted to escape but he was gunned down and victims quietly invited their maker to send warrior-angels.
A vehicle from the direction of Tema made a fast U-turn at the scene, unnoticed by the robbers, who at this time were having a field day.
Not long, a police Land rover with registration GP1277 from the Prampram district defied the blockade, and when the lights of an articulated truck were thrown on it, exposing the presence of police, the armed robbers met them with fire, which they returned, though their number was not more than three, including the driver, who escaped death narrowly, as pellet, believed to have been fired from an AK 47 assault rifle, smashed his left view mirror six inches from the steering wheel.
The last man among the robbers, some of who the passengers from Ivory Coast claimed were speaking ?Kpelle? a language spoken by a tribe found in Guinea and Liberia, ensnared by a number of travelling bags he held on to, was finished by the police, though with limited ammo.
A sharpened knife was found by his body as at the time the Chronicle got to the scene at few minutes to 5am.
The lady conductor of the CTI bus said the armed robbers made away with all the monies she collected from the passengers, being transport fares.
And on Sunday, Golf City was the next target. The armed robbers, who went into their bunkers when the joint security patrol team at Tema flushed them out of the area, after terrorizing the spawling suburb constantly in June, this year, staged a comeback.
Three houses for a pastor Akoto, Rau and one other became targets, resulting in the death of the pregnant woman. The Member of Parliament for Kpone- Katamanso, Hon. Joseph Nii Laryea Afotey-Agbo, who visited Golf City and sympathised with the bereaved family, said robbery activities in the area has become a headache and that he was liaising with the police and residents to as a matter of urgency form a neighbourhood watch committee as an interim measure to curb the menace.
According to him, he was going to use part of his MP?s common fund to provide street lighting for some communities in the constituency, including Golf City and Sackey Village, who like the former, is a target for the thugs.
On the provision of a police station, Hon. Laryea Afotey-Agbo said both the Tema Development Corporation (TDC) and traditional authorities failed to create spaces for such important facilities.
The Tema Regional Police Commander, ACP Daniel Laryea Odai told the media that police had for a long time suspected some Fulani men to be a part of a syndicate occasionally robbing travellers on that highway, and the body of the Fulani man found after the exchange of fire confirmed their suspicion.
Police are therefore going to collect fingerprints of all Fulani herdsmen in the Bundase enclave, The Chronicle gathered.


... Bob Okala, Adofo among ?ambushed?victims
... Kill pastor, pregnant woman
Two deadly strikes within 24 hours on Saturday and Sunday in and around the Tema municipality by gunmen left a pastor and a pregnant woman dead, compelling the security agencies, to re-strategise in order to regain lost ground after the unexpected blows were delivered.
One of the armed robbers, wearing the looks of a Fulani, was found dead when the dust finally settled, after police exchanged fire with the gangsters.
The pastor, Charles Borromee, believed to be a Togolese national and student at the Faculty of Theology, in an Ivorian university, was killed at Bundase, about 300 metres from the military camp junction on the Tema?Aflao highway, and the dead armed robber lay about two yards from that of the Togolese pastor.
Exactly 24 hours later, about 0230hrs on Sunday, gunmen, as if to taunt the security agencies, recaptured Golf City, a suburb of Tema, near Michel Camp, which they lost to the joint security patrol team about two months ago, terrorized three homes and celebrated the killing of the pregnant woman said to be 24 years old, the wife of a scrap dealer, a Rau.
On Saturday at about 0200hrs, ace comedian, Bishop Bob Okala and highlife musician, S.S. Adofo, aka Black Chinese, were on board a bus travelling to the Volta Region to stage concert shows.
According to the two men, who spoke to The Chronicle at the scene, corroborated by other victims, on reaching the spot, they saw obstacles placed in the road, and parked ahead of the semi-blockade were two articulated trucks, almost side by side, so their bus, as expected slowed, and the next thing was the rattling of gunshots, demobilising the bus.
Gun-totting men, wearing masks, emerged from the coastal savannah and ordered them at gunpoint to surrender all monies in their possession, amid slaps, and when the gangsters robbed them of cash, jewelries and mobile phones, ordered them to lie prostrate on the ground.
At least, four other vehicles went through similar ordeal and then arrived an Ivorian long passenger bus, Continental Transport International [CTI], plying between Cotonou, Benin Republic, and Abidjan, the Ivory Coast, which was sprayed with bullets.
The helpless passengers were robbed of every every currency.
The eyewitness account went on to say that, a man from the CTI bus attempted to escape but he was gunned down and victims quietly invited their maker to send warrior-angels.
A vehicle from the direction of Tema made a fast U-turn at the scene, unnoticed by the robbers, who at this time were having a field day.
Not long, a police Land rover with registration GP1277 from the Prampram district defied the blockade, and when the lights of an articulated truck were thrown on it, exposing the presence of police, the armed robbers met them with fire, which they returned, though their number was not more than three, including the driver, who escaped death narrowly, as pellet, believed to have been fired from an AK 47 assault rifle, smashed his left view mirror six inches from the steering wheel.
The last man among the robbers, some of who the passengers from Ivory Coast claimed were speaking ?Kpelle? a language spoken by a tribe found in Guinea and Liberia, ensnared by a number of travelling bags he held on to, was finished by the police, though with limited ammo.
A sharpened knife was found by his body as at the time the Chronicle got to the scene at few minutes to 5am.
The lady conductor of the CTI bus said the armed robbers made away with all the monies she collected from the passengers, being transport fares.
And on Sunday, Golf City was the next target. The armed robbers, who went into their bunkers when the joint security patrol team at Tema flushed them out of the area, after terrorizing the spawling suburb constantly in June, this year, staged a comeback.
Three houses for a pastor Akoto, Rau and one other became targets, resulting in the death of the pregnant woman. The Member of Parliament for Kpone- Katamanso, Hon. Joseph Nii Laryea Afotey-Agbo, who visited Golf City and sympathised with the bereaved family, said robbery activities in the area has become a headache and that he was liaising with the police and residents to as a matter of urgency form a neighbourhood watch committee as an interim measure to curb the menace.
According to him, he was going to use part of his MP?s common fund to provide street lighting for some communities in the constituency, including Golf City and Sackey Village, who like the former, is a target for the thugs.
On the provision of a police station, Hon. Laryea Afotey-Agbo said both the Tema Development Corporation (TDC) and traditional authorities failed to create spaces for such important facilities.
The Tema Regional Police Commander, ACP Daniel Laryea Odai told the media that police had for a long time suspected some Fulani men to be a part of a syndicate occasionally robbing travellers on that highway, and the body of the Fulani man found after the exchange of fire confirmed their suspicion.
Police are therefore going to collect fingerprints of all Fulani herdsmen in the Bundase enclave, The Chronicle gathered.


Source: Chronicle