The Northern regional police command, in collaboration with their counterparts in the Upper East region, has arrested a gang of notorious armed robbers whose activities have put the entire eastern corridors of the region under siege.
Johnson Kombian, aka Burger, 32, the gang leader who has about 8 high profiled criminal activities to his credit including robbing banks and gunning down uniformed military officers, was arrested with three of his accomplices at different locations in the Northern and Upper east regions. The rest were identified as Fusheini Ibrahim, 30, Kona Findi, aka Soldier, 32 and Nam Kofi, aka Accra boy, 23 who are currently in the custody of the Tamale police, pending further investigations. It was disclosed that four members of the gang, who are currently on the run, are being sought by the security agencies from their hideout which is believed to be around the eastern corridors of the region.
The notorious robber was singing like a parrot when he was arrested and begun confessing his deeds amidst shouts of �Oh, Ei, What?� from the angry onlookers who looked for the least opportunity to lynch him. Briefing the media in Tamale, Northern regional Police Commander, ACP Awuni Angwubutoge, said he was glad that Burger in particular had been busted since his continuous existence posed a threat to security in the region.
Giving a diary of his criminal activities, he said, earlier information suggested he was a lone ranger but further investigations revealed that he enjoyed the support of some accomplices in embarking on his nefarious activities. According to ACP Awuni, Johnson Kombian, aka �Tamale Atta Aryee� by his victims, was earlier arrested in January 8, 2005 for robbing a Bank at Garu in the Garu-Timpane District of the Upper East region.
He was again arrested for possessing firearms without authority in addition to stealing a fully-loaded AK47 assault rifle from the Nakpanduri police station and was jailed in Gambaga and Tamale respectively. Security sources said he broke jail in each of the instances and subsequently became more dangerous to commuters, residents and the business community. To prove his criminal prowess, Johnson single-handedly gunned down two uniformed military officers at Nakpanduri in 2007 and took away their weapons after a fierce scuffle. Earlier this year, he was reported to have robbed several persons in Bimbilla and Nakpanduri at gun points; kidnapping some of his victims for an undisclosed ransom in the process. This was followed by murder attempts on one Mathias Jato in his hospital bed after he robbed him at his house and inflicted multiple wounds on him.
His days became numbered when ACP Awuni, during a working visit to the Bunkpurrugu-Yunyoo District, tasked his men to track and hunt him down, dead or alive. In ensuring that he was grabbed, plain-clothed men of the Police service were deployed to the area to mount surveillance on him but he had wind of the security presence and fled to Bolgatanga. With collaboration from the two regional commanders, he was finally busted and brought to Tamale, where he is expected to be put before court along with his accomplices who were arrested earlier.
Upon his arrest, he admitted to being in possession of several sophisticated weapons but told the police he sold them to some persons he was yet to identify. The Regional Commander indicated that he could now heave a sigh of relief and commended the civilians for volunteering information leading to the arrest of the most notorious bandit in the region.ACP Awuni also commended the Upper East regional command for playing a collaborative role in apprehending �Burger� and appealed to the security agencies to be wary of his slippery nature.
The body of the ex-convict revealed several gunshots and machete wounds believed to have been sustained from an earlier gun battle he and his cronies had engaged the security agencies in. It would be recalled that Police in Napkanduri in the Bunkpurugu-Yunyoo District of the Northern region were tasked to track and hunt down a notorious armed robber called Johnson, alias Burger. Less than a month after the directive, the criminal has finally been unmasked alongside his accomplices.
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