TWO ROBBERS NABBED — P.3

Story: Mary Mensah

TWO suspected robbers who used a motorbike and went round banks snatching money from people have been arrested by the police.
The two suspects, Shaibu Fatao and Musah Usmanu were arrested on the ring road by the patrol team who had been trailing them for sometime now.
According to the Nima Divisional Police Commander, Chief Superintendent Angwubotuge Awuni, the police in Accra had received several complaints about the activities of the robbers.
He said their modus operandi was to wear identical clothes and matched it with the same helmet after which they jumped on a motorbike and kept surveillance at the banks.
He said the robbers usually planted an accomplice in the bank who monitored all customers withdrawing money and when they saw somebody who had cashed a huge amount of money they would inform the suspects by giving a vivid description of the victim.
They will then follow you and snatch the money when you least suspect it.
Mr Awuni said on September 29, 2007 somebody came to the police station and reported that he went to cash ¢29 million from a bank in Accra and while he was waiting by the road side for a taxi two men on a motorbike snatched the money from him in broad daylight and sped off.
He said later they also had several reports from the Kotobabi and other police stations about the activities of the suspects.
He said investigations also revealed that the suspects owned taxis which they use to pick passengers, robbed them and threw them out of the taxi.
The commander said surveillance was put on them and the patrol team spotted them on the motorbike wearing the same attire and they gave them a hot chase.
Mr Awuni said the suspect ran into an accident and they were arrested. He said one had a broken leg because of the accident but the other sustained minor injuries so they were taken to the Korle-Bu teaching hospital for treatment.
He said one had been discharged but the other with the broken leg was still on admission under a police guard.
He said the Kotobabi police had also impounded one of the taxi’s suspected to be owned by the suspects and when the documents were taken to DVLA for verification it turned out to be fake.