Robbers threaten vengeance

Armed robbers have threatened to wreck vengeance on residents of Asante-Mampong in the Ashanti Region for their role in neutralizing a raid on an agency of the Otuasekan Rural Bank in the town, in which two policemen were killed.

Of prime concern to the robbers was the part played by the residents in the death and arrest of their colleagues. The threats were issued through anonymous telephone calls to the officers of the Sekyere West District Assembly of the region, government and private establishments as well as some prominent citizens of the town.

In response to the threats, the Ashanti Regional Police Command has dispatched a team of soldiers and policemen to the town to maintain law and order. The military, from the Fourth Battalion of Infantry, are assisting the police to beef up security in the town.

Sources close to the Regional Police Command said on Thursday 18 October 2001, that adequate security arrangements had been put in place to decisively deal with any attacks on the residents.

"We will do everything possible to protect and defend the people of Ashanti-Mampong from any attacks by armed robbers", the sources stated.

The police and the military, enjoying the tremendous support of the residents, cornered and killed three of the robbers and retrieved about ?27 million out of the nearly ?45 million stolen in the broad daylight robbery.

Two of the dead robbers, were later burned to ashes by a mob, mainly the youth of the town, using old lorry tyres and petrol.

One of the captured robbers, Kwesi Mensah, from Winneba, sustained multiple cutlass and gunshot wounds during the raid and died in police cells in Kumasi on the night of Sunday 14 October 2001.