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Five men of an eight-member highway robbery gang who descended on travellers from Mankranso towards Kumasi at dawn of last Monday have been arrested by the Ashanti Police. The suspects, believed to be Fulanis, have been identified as Damba Abdullai, 24, gang leader; Zakari Schwarzenegger, 25; Mohammed Ali and Hamidu Abdullai, both in their late 20s, and one Mohammed, 21. They blocked the road midway on the Mankranso-Tepa Highway with firewood and amid gunshots ordered occupants of six vehicles out of their cars and robbed them of their cash and other properties. However, in the course of the operation, a KIA truck driver managed to escape and reported the matter to the Mankranso Police who rushed to the scene and found the robbers still harassing the victims, who had been made to lie prostrate on the road. The Ashanti Regional Police Commander, DCOP Augustine Gyenning, who briefed newsmen in Kumasi yesterday, said on seeing the police, the robbers opened fire and engaged the police in a gun battle for a while, but realising that they were being overpowered, the robbers run into the bush. The police, he said, pursued them for a distance of over eight kilometres and with the assistance of residents around Zakari, Ali and Mohammed were first arrested. The residents continued their search and managed to smoke out Damba late evening on Monday and then Hamidu on Tuesday morning. The police retrieved a total of GH�2,600, bags and identity cards belonging to some of the victims from the suspects. DCOP Gyenning said Hamidu had denied being part of the gang, but claimed to be an illegal miner, adding that the residents arrested him because they claimed they did not know him in the area. That notwithstanding, he said the police would carry out thorough investigations on all of the suspects before freeing him if need be. He also stated that some of the people who came to help in the search for the robbers made away with a bag containing six mobile phones that belonged to the victims. "That person must do the right thing by returning the bag otherwise when we arrest you we shall treat you as one of the robbers,� he warned, as he raised concern over firewood sellers who leave the firewood along the street, saying, "When you do that you enhance the activities of these criminals so please stop such behaviour."