Shop owner screams away masked armed robbers

Hohoe, March 25, GNA - The persistent screaming of Madam Margarette Owusu Dankyi, proprietress of Mayfair Trading Company eventually foiled a planned armed robbery attack on her by two masked armed men on Wednesday.

Mr Daniel Ablordey, Hohoe District Police Commander, who briefed the Ghana News Agency, said the assailants pulled up and seized Madam Dankyi with her driver, at gun point, shortly after her pickup vehicle stopped at her gate, near the Hohoe branch of the Electricity Company of Ghana at about 2030 hours.

He said in a "Hollywood fashion" the masked assailants accosted the driver who had gotten down to open the main gate to the house while another, at gunpoint, ordered Madam Dankyi to surrender her bag, which contained an unspecified amount of money, apparently from the day's sales.

The Commander said the proprietress, who deals in assorted food items in Hohoe, resisted the order by screaming vehemently, thus alerting neighbours and those in her house. They consequently rushed to the scene, compelling the assailants to beat a retreat.

Mr Ablordey said the robbers fled into the dark on an unregistered motor bike towards Fodome. Meanwhile, investigations continue.

Mr Ablordey advised traders to devise strategies to beat "these social miscreants", who want to get rich over-night, by promptly depositing their sales at the banks. He said the attempted robbery was a result of close monitoring of the victim and urged all and sundry to be vigilant, since it was difficult to see who was watching.

Hohoe Police discovers 50 acres of wee plantation

Hohoe, Mar 25, GNA - A team of police officers led by Mr Kofi Adei-Akyeampong, Hohoe Divisional Police Commander, in a search-and-destroy operation, in the early hours of Wednesday, destroyed about six acres of an estimated 50 acres of Cannabis or "Wee" plantation at Kpota near Akplamafu, in the Hohoe Municipality. Briefing the press after the five-hour operation, he said seven suspects including a Liberian national, were arrested earlier on Monday, upon tip-off, in connection with the cultivation of the outlawed plant in a swoop.

They are Raphael Atuwo, 35; Say Sorry, 26, alias Maxwell (Liberian); Enoch Deti, 15; Wisdom Azameti, 17; Kwasi Abror, 14; Samuel Tenu, 14 and Samuel Atuwo, 75.

Mr Adei-Akyeampong said a search on two hamlets spotted in the middle of the wee plantation along the Dayi River found quantities of dried leaves stashed in five mini bags, suspected to be Indian hemp, two weighing scales, a water pumping machine and 22 pairs of scissors. He said the suspects would be arraigned in court as soon as investigations and forensic testing of the leaves were completed. The Divisional Commander said the Police Administration was re-organizing to continue with the destruction exercise. Mr Adei-Akyeampong warned ringleaders and those in the cultivation of the plant to stop or face the wrath of the law, stating that, operation-search-and-destroy had come to stay.

He gave the assurance that the Police were up to the task and would go after the bad nuts in the society but urged members of the public to volunteer information that would lead to the arrest of such miscreants. Meanwhile, Deti, Abror and Tenu speaking to the GNA, said that financial difficulties, which compelled them to drop-out of school was the pull-factor and found sanctuary in the wee business, which they started only in December, last year.

They denied having received any monetary rewards yet but their responsibilities on the plantation included clearing and watering the plants in a plantation of mature and growing wee plants.