Four Escape From Tema Police Station

Four Armed robbers escaped from custody at the Tema Community Two Police Station yesterday after knocking an officer on duty cold and removing louvre blades from the cell windows to create an escape route.

They are Alfred Kofi Adovor, 20, David Kwabena Asampana, 25, Sumaila Adams, 18, and Simeon Frimpong, 18.

They were arrested for engaging in different robberies in the metropolis.

Matthew Donkor, another escapee, was re-arrested within the premises of the station and taken back into the cells.

The counter Non Commissioned Officer (NCO) on duty and the Station Orderly (names withheld by the police) have been given 10 days to produce the suspects or face appropriate action.

The Police Regional Public Relations Officer, Inspector Olivia Turkson, told the Daily Graphic that at about 5 am yesterday, the counter NCO opened the cells for the inmates to bring out rubbish for onward collection to a nearby dump.

She said when the cell gate was opened, one of the robbers gave the counter NCO a hefty blow in the face, which made him lose consciousness for a few minutes.

She said two of them immediately opened the door and escaped. And the three others, taking advantage of the commotion that ensued, removed the louvre blades and the iron bars and escaped through the opening created.

The cell gates, she said, were later locked.

Inspector Turkson said luck, however, ran out for Donkor when police personnel reporting for duty spotted him and took him back into police custody.

She stated that there were 20 suspects in the cell at the time but the 15 others refused to escape.

Investigations, she noted, were underway to determine whether the escape was due to negligence on the part of the police, adding that under police regulations, negligence of duty was a serious offence, which attracted a stiff punishment.