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30.10.2006 Crime & Punishment

Police Robber Arrested

By daily guide
Police Robber Arrested
30.10.2006 LISTEN

A policeman allegedly involved in an armed robbery has been arrested, while his accomplice, another serving officer, is being looked for. The middle-aged policeman, James Doley, was arrested on Saturday by operatives of the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) of the Police Service, upon a tip-off.

James, who Daily Guide learnt was already facing a disciplinary action for an undisclosed misdemeanour, connived with another person to rob one Fred Ahado of ¢25 million. When the incident was reported to the CID on Saturday, they swung into action by moving to James' hideout at Abeka in Accra.

On arrival however, the Police detectives could not locate the cop because he had gone into hiding. The police therefore picked up his girlfriend, prompting the suspect to come out of hiding. He mistook one of the vehicles used for the operation by the CID for a commercial one, as some service personnel laid ambush for him at Kokomlemle.


When the occupants of the vehicles got down, Detective Chief Inspector Bawa of the CID headquarters arrested James after his girlfriend pointed him out. The suspected police armed robber, Daily Guide learnt, robbed Fred Ahado at the North Industrial Area, where he had gone to make payment for a taxi cab he had negotiated for.

Unknown to Fred, the driver had lured him to the area, only to dispossess him of his money, with the connivance of the policemen. Narrating the chilling story to Daily Guide, Fred said he had negotiated to buy the car from the driver after meeting him at Teshie-Nungua, whereupon the driver had pegged the price at ¢25 million.

Even though he thought the price was too much at the time, Fred said he was desperate to buy the car because it was “very neat.” According to him, he was in the house last Friday when the taxi driver called him to come and pay for the car, otherwise it would be sold out to another person who had equally shown interest.

Fred picked the money in a black polythene bag and flagged down a taxi to an obscure part of the industrial area, where he was to meet the driver. He explained that when he got to the scene, he did meet the driver waiting for him. However, as he was talking to the driver, two policemen, armed with AK 47 assault rifles and a handcuff, appeared on the scene after the driver, in a telephone conversation with an unknown caller, had announced that he, Fred, had brought the money.


Fred said they pounced on him, accusing him of stealing the money. “Where did you get the money? You are a thief; armed robber; bring the money,” they yelled at him. Confused with what was going on, Fred said he slugged it out with the police robbers while the taxi driver moved the vehicle. The victim rushed to the security post of Fine Pack, a factory in the Industrial Area, to seek help, but the security man on duty, upon seeing the policemen, supported the assailants to chase Fred.

The complainant said after dispossessing him of the money, they tried to tie him up into a waiting taxi to an unknown location. He struggled with the uniformed robbers, slamming one of them into a nearby gutter several times.

While this daylight robbery was going on, onlookers could not intervene, since everybody thought Fred was indeed an armed robber. The police robbers eventually bolted with the money, leaving Fred stranded.

A Good Samaritan, who was curious, rushed to him to find out what actually happened. After his explanation, they accused the Fine Pack security man of conniving with the uniformed robbers.

However, the security man was able to identify one of the policemen, and directed the victim and his “saviour” to the suspect's house.

After tracing the house at Abeka, they went to the Tesano Police Station to lodge a complaint. The officer on duty indicated that they did not have adequate personnel to carry out the operation at the time and therefore instructed them to come back the following day.

From Tesano Police Station, they moved to the Police Depot, also at Tesano, where Fred's uncle was also a serving officer. The police at the Depot could also not mobilise enough men to effect the arrest of James Doley, who was said to have been interdicted.

Following the unsuccessful attempt to arrest the police robbers, the victim was taken to the Ridge Hospital for treatment, after which he was discharged the following day.

Daily Guide received news about the robbery incident on Friday night and commenced its investigation, after which it alerted the CID and James Doley was subsequently arrested

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