5 Suspects in Fomena bullion van robbery arrested; Leader still on the run

The police in the Ashanti Region have arrested five out of 10 suspected armed robbers who, in January this year, attacked a bullion van belonging to the Delta Security Company at Fomena in the Ashanti Region.

In the course of that attack, a policeman escorting the van, General Lance Corporal Martin Baba, was killed. 

The van was said to be transporting an amount of GH¢500,000 from the Dunkwa-on-Offin branch of the Ghana Commercial Bank to the bank’s branch at New Edubiase when the attack occurred.

The leader of the group, known as John Appiah, alias Omega, a 22-year-old senior high school (SHS) graduate whom the police described as trigger happy, is on the run.

John Appiah, alias Omega 

He is said to have recruited and trained a number of young people in camps spread across the country to target bullion vans.

Appiah and Kofi Mathew, alias Wiser, 24, are suspected to have been involved in the ambulance shooting incident at Aseseeso in the Eastern Region, in which the driver died.

The four other suspects arrested are Bismark Owusu Ansah, 29, alias Obese; Titus Azumah, 23; Kwadwo Agyepong, 30, alias Labista, and Martin Tei, 26, alias Kwadwo Darko.

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Hideouts

Briefing the media in Kumasi yesterday, the Ashanti Regional Police Commander, Commissioner of Police (COP) Mr Kwasi Mensah Duku, said the suspects were arrested at various hideouts in Techiman in the Bono East Region, Kumasi and Kasoa in the Central Region.

Seized items

He said an amount totalling GH¢53,934 and items belonging to each individual were retrieved from them during the arrest.

The items included two Toyota Corolla saloon cars, one tricycle, two motorbikes and a Benz Sprinter bus which they used for their operations, COP Duku said.

The Police Commander said during interrogation, the suspects were said to have admitted to committing the crime and confirmed that they had bought the items from their share of the booty.

Wiser and Kwadwo Darko are already said to be on the wanted list of the Bono East Regional Police Command for their involvement in another bullion van robbery on May 8, last year.

COP Mr Duku subsequently declared the other five, including Omega, as wanted and urged the public to volunteer information leading to their arrest.