Residents of Ayigya, in Kumasi are living in fear, following the pandemonium that broke out in the area on Tuesday night, when about 30 suspected criminals took to different directions on unregistred motor bikes, firing guns sporadically to scare off the public in their attempt to escape police arrest.
The criminals were said to have gathered for a robbery attack but became scared when word got to them that the police had obtained information about their intended action.
Motorists crashed into each other in their attempt to escape from the marauding criminals while terrified residents were also locked up in their homes for safety.
Some residents told the Daily Graphic that they had decided to keep indoors after 5pm for fear of their lives.
The police could not make any arrest of those on the motorbikes but later rounded out 150 suspected criminals in other parts of the Kumasi metropolis.
But the Ashanti Regional Police Commander, Deputy Commissioner of Police, Mr Augustine Gyenning,explained that because the suspected criminals used limited number of motor bikes and the fact that the incident occured during the evening rush hour, the police could not make any arrest.
He told the media in Kumasi that when the police learnt that the robbers were about to strike, they sent a patrol team after them, a situation he said, created panic among the robbers, causing them to escape through different directions within the metropolis.
He said since the suspected robbers were using unlicensed motor bikes and also firing warning shots, they succeeded in creating panic among the public, many of whom alerted the police about their predicament.
Meanwhile, the police have arrested 150 suspected robbers in a swoop intended to bring the spate of armed robbery in the Kumasi metropolis and its environs to the barest minimum.
Speaking at a press conference in Kumasi today, Mr Gyenning said many of the suspects were arrested at the abandoned affordable housing units at Ayigya, which had now become a den for hardened criminals.
Thirty-nine assorted passports, 16 rubber stamps, three locally manufactured pistols, three live cartridges, 97 pliers, nine female slippers, four scissors, six sharp machetes a lap top computer and GH�3,816.00 were retrieved from the suspects.
Mr Gyenning said some of the suspects were also arrested at Akorem, Asafo, Abrepo, Adukrom, Anloga and the Airport area. He said the suspects would be screened and those found culpable would be prosecuted.
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