Police in Bolgatanga in the Upper East Region on Sunday July 3rd, shot and killed two members of a notorious robbery gang at their hideout at Tanzui, a suburb of the regional capital.
The robbers were shot dead during a fierce gun battle with the police. Until their killing, the robbers had tormented residents and travelers in most parts of the region.
The leader of the criminal gang, whose name was given by the police only as Atiah, together with another suspect, both wielding AK47 assault raffles, managed to escape with gunshot wounds.
Briefing the media, Upper East Regional Police Commander, DCOP Simon Yao Afeku said the police, upon a tip off pursued the robbers in an uncompleted building on a rocky hill enclave at Tanzui, at a time they were preparing to go for an attack.
“On noticing the presence of the police, they opened fire at the police. The police returned fire and there was a shootout at least for sometime, and when things settled two of them had fallen. Upon conveyance of the wounded to the hospital, they were declared dead by the hospital authorities.
The two bodies, one of whom had been identified as Alebna are currently placed at the hospital morgue”, the commander said. He linked many past and present robbery attacks and other criminal activities in the region to the gang, as he recounted the killing of the driver of a Burkinabe Daf vehicle in May, this year, as he, the driver, and his mate, were resting at the High Court junction on the Bolgatanga-Navrongo road.
DCOP Afeku also said the same gang was responsible for an attack on a security man at Zamse Senior High School in Bolgatanga. He was shot in the lower abdomen last month and was receiving treatment at the regional hospital.
Items retrieved from their hideout included one locally made pistol, a number of AK47 empty shells, a military cap and T-shirt, four screw drivers, one police whistle, one flat screen TV set and a decoder, ten mobile phones, five motorbikes believed to have been snatched from victims, a double-edged machete and a laptop belonging to a police woman.
The Police Commander sounded a strong warning to criminals who saw Bolgatanga as a safe haven to operate in, to beware, because the police will come after them. He called on the general public, especially health authorities and traditional healers to be on the lookout for the two injured suspects and provide information to the police.
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