12 Households ‘identify’ Koforidua robbers
Three suspected armed robbers and their three accomplices who allegedly robbed residents of the Koforidua Medical Village and other communities in the New Juaben municipality appeared before the Koforidua Circuit Court yesterday, charged with robbery, rape and dishonestly receiving stolen items.
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Their pleas were not taken and the court, presided over by Mr Ebenezer Osei Darko, remanded them in custody to reappear on February 6, 2014.
They are Samuel Akwetey, alias Kwame Agbeko, 35, the alleged mastermind and leader of the group; Godwin Ametoyo, 38, and Isaac Agomor, 22.
Their accomplices are Gideon Boateng, 28, said to be the carrier of the stolen goods; Charles Awuku, 47, and Mohamed Zebu, who allegedly received the items.
Another member of the gang, Nicholas Eshun, who was arrested by a police patrol team at the Daasebre Estates at dawn on January 1, 2014, leading to the arrest of the six others on Thursday, January 23, was remanded to reappear on February 12, 2014.
Meanwhile, the six suspects have led the police to 16 houses in which they had robbed residents of their valuables.
The houses are located at Old Estates, the St James Hotel and Capital View Hotel areas, Korle Abansoro, the Daasebre Estates, the Kenkey Factory and the Medical Village.
According to the Eastern Regional Crime Officer, Chief Superintendent Faakye Kumi, who led a team of detectives to the robbery scenes, the residents of all the houses visited claimed to have been victims of robberies at different times in 2013.
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The police, he also indicated, had on their record that those houses were burgled last year.
Chief Supt Kumi also confirmed that hard disks retrieved from the robbers contained materials such as teaching notes and pictures of some of the doctors at the Medical Village.
Responding to a question on whether there would be an identification parade for victims to identify the suspects, Chief Supt Kumi ruled that out, with the explanation that the suspects wore masks during their operations and that would make it difficult or impossible for the victims to identify them.
ASP Nketia-Yeboah debunks allegation
Responding to another question on an allegation that one of the suspects was an elder of a church, the Eastern Regional Police Public Affairs Officer, ASP Yaw Nketia-Yeboah, said police investigations had not yet established the truth or otherwise of that assertion.
In a related development, the Eastern Regional Police Command has impounded a private Toyota Corolla saloon car, with registration number GE 2882-12, belonging to Gideon Boateng, one of the suspects, which was used to cart the stolen goods.