Police gun down one, arrest 2 others as they foil robbery at Haatso block factory

Personnel of the Accra Regional Police Command have foiled a suspected robbery operation on a block factory at Haatso in Accra after gunning down a member of the four-member gang.

The police, who had laid ambush, engaged the suspected robbers in a shootout over a period before arresting two members of the gang, while the last of the suspected robbers escaped.

Those arrested have been identified as Christian Anagbra, 38 and Emmanuel Gavor, 53, while the escapee has been identified only as Isaac, aka My Brother.

The deceased has been identified as Julius Duvor, aka Digger.

Police briefing

Confirming the operation, the Public Relations Officer of the Accra Regional Police Command, Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Effia Tenge, said the exercise was based on intelligence gathered by the command.

DSP Tenge said on the basis of the intelligence, at about 11:30 a.m. last Monday, the command dispatched personnel who laid ambush around the block factory — unknown to the operators of the block factory — to foil the robbery attempt.

While the personnel watched, four men arrived at the block factory under the pretext of engaging in a business transaction.

DSP Tenge said the men, who insisted on seeing the chief executive of the block factory, pulled out pistols and started shooting sporadically and attempted to take the workers on the premises hostage.

Police intervention

“When the police intervened, the four men reportedly engaged the police in an exchange of gun shots, leading to the shooting of one of the suspected robbers.

“The police succeeded in arresting two of the suspected robbers, while one of the gang members escaped, using indiscriminate firing of gun shot as a cover,” DSP Tenge added.

“A pistol with five rounds of ammunition has been retrieved from the arrested suspects, who also admitted their involvement in the attempted robbery during interrogation,” she said.

She also indicated that the command suspected that the gang was the same group which attacked a Goil fuel service station at Ashongman and murdered a security man in the process at about 3 a.m. on the same day.

The two operations were about eight hours apart.