Five arrested for Roko's murder

Five men suspected to be involved in the murder of Mr Rokko Frimpong, the former Deputy Managing Director (Operations) of the Ghana Commercial Bank (GCB), have been arrested.

Two others allegedly connected with the murder are, however, on the run and are being sought by the police.

According to the Homicide Unit of the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) of the Ghana Police Service, investigations conducted appeared to point to robbery as the motive for the murder.

Rokko was alleged to have been murdered by the seven-member armed robbery gang from Sakomono which had been terrorising residents in the Accra-Tema metropolis for some time now.

The same group allegedly murderecd Mr Kwatey Quartey, the retired worker of the Public Works Department (PWD).

Those arrested are Samuel McCarthy, alias Tugah, 25; William Agbavor, alias Willie, 29; Atta Kakra, 26; Foster Kwame Boakye, 23 and Francis Ankobeah, alias Nana Sei, 26.

They are currently assisting the police in their investigations.
Those on the run are Tahiru Adams, alias Okantey, and Jonathan Abi, alias Joe, and the have mounted an intensive search for them.

According to the acting Director of the Police Public Affairs Directorate, DSP Kwesi Ofori, about 8:30p.m. on June 28, 2006, men on board a seized Opel Vectra, with registration number GR 4735 P, armed with two pump action guns, one locally-made pistol and other dangerous implements, stormed the residence of the deceased and fired at him.

He said prior to the shooting of the deceased, the armed men had snatched two cell phones connected to Tigo and OneTouch lines from the deceased's brother, James Darbo.

He said during investigations, the call data of the Tigo line was collected from Tigo and its analysis revealed that at exactly 6:53 a.m. the following morning, one of the perpetrators used the line to call another Tigo line and made 18 subsequent calls between June 29 and July 5, 2007.

DSP Ofori said through diligent investigations, one of the frequent receivers of the calls from James's number was detected to be a lady at Ashaimim and she was picked up for interrogation.

The acting director said the lady mentioned her boyfriend, McCarthy, as the one she had received the calls from and on July 17, 2007 he was traced to the Sakumono Village School where he was apprehended.
He said an immediate search in his room revealed one locally-made pistol, one reflective jacket stained with blood, a military attire and GH¢800 in his pocket.

The acting director said after killing Rokko, the suspects drove to the Sakumono Junction, where they abandoned the Opel and snatched a Toyota Carina saloon car and a laptop from its owner and sped off.

He said from there, and during that same night, they drove to Tema Community Four where they attacked an internet cafe operator, from whom they stole one laptop and mobile phones, after which they abandoned the Toyota at Ashaiman.

A few days after killing Rokko, five members of the gang snatched a taxi from its owner and went to the residence of the late Quartey, where they shot him dead in front of the gate and later abandoned the taxi.

He said following interrogations, the suspects admitted their involvement in Quartey's murder. They claimed they had been hired by some men to kill for a fee. Two of them said they received ¢8 million and ¢4 million, respectively, and that the bulk of the money went to their three accomplices.

The three had refused to disclose the actual amount paid to them or the names and whereabouts of the persons who contracted them.

DSP Ofori indicated that all the five suspects arrested at their various hideouts had admitted their involvement in the crime in their written statements and had mentioned suspect Jonathan Abi (at large) as the one who pulled the trigger on the deceased.

He said they had, however, denied that they were contracted to eliminate Rokko and insisted that they had been at his house to rob for money but the deceased had resisted.