Two suspected armed robbers were last Saturday shot dead by the police when they attempted robbing motorists along the Koluedor-Sege main road in the Greater Accra.
The robbers were identified as Joseph Dagodzo and Mujahid Abubakar, also known as Sule.
The police also grabbed an arms dealer,Bukari Salifu,65, at Zenu, near Ashaiman in Greater Accra region.
The Acting Director-General of the Police Public Affairs Directorate, Assistant Commissioner of Police(ACP)Kwesi Ofori, who disclosed this in a press statement in Accra yesterday, said Dagodzo and Abubakar were arrested when they attempted to rob the motorists.
He said during interrogation, the two robbers mentioned Salifu as the one who provided them with weapons for robbery expeditions.
ACP Ofori said under the guise of aiding the police to retrieve some weapons and assist in arresting their other accomplices who had escaped from the scene, the two led the crime-scene police team to the hideout of their accomplices in a bush near Zenu.
He said the police came under fire as the suspected armed robbers attempted to escape, and the crime-combat team and officers returned fire.
ACP Ofori said the suspected armed robbers were shot in the process and were rushed to the Police Hospital, where they died and their bodies deposited at the mortuary there.
He said the police arrested Salifu, alleged financier and supplier of the weapon to the suspected robbers.
“A Blow F9-22 pistol, a locally-manufactured pistol and two motorcycles have been retrieved by the police,” ACP Ofori said.
He said the police were pursuing those on the run,stating that “criminals cannot and will not win in any battle against the police.”
ACP Ofori assured the public of the police’s commitment to work day and night to protect lives and properties.
The police have announced a GH¢50,000 bounty as reward to any person who would provide reliable information leading to the arrestof persons behind recent day-light robberies in some parts of Accra.
At Sampa Valley, near Weija barrier in Accra, gunmen reportedly robbed a woman of an unspecified amount and at Apenkwa, near Achimota, a suburb of Accra, a woman who had withdrawn money from the bank was robbed of GH¢29,000.
ACP Ofori, announcing the reward, said the police in Accra had instituted urgent additional security measures to arrest a robbery gang attacking people within the region in recent days.
BY ANITA NYARKO-YIRENKYI
