COP KILLER GUNNED DOWN

By Dora Akyaa Asare
Two alleged notorious armed robbers were over the weekend gunned down by policemen from the Accra Regional Police Command in a shoot-out at Ogbojo, near Madina in Accra.

One of them has been identified as the robber who shot and killed a police officer at United Bank for Africa, a couple of weeks ago.

The suspects, Rabiu, alias Rabba, a Togolese national, and Simon Peter, 30, a Nigerian, and resident of Ashaiman, were shot dead when they were about to rob a Nigerian national at Ogbojo, near Madina.

Briefing The Chronicle over the weekend in Accra, the Greater Accra Regional Police Commander, Commissioner of Police (COP) Rose Bio Atinga, indicated that 'the two and their gang members had been involved in a lot of robberies, including that of the Ecobank, at the Accra Mall branch at the Tetteh Quarshie Roundabout, in 2011.

Other robberies they had been linked to are the Haatso Forex Bureau, Louis Gas robbery, Antis (dealers in building materials) robbery this year, and the Tema UBA robbery, where a cop attached to the Community 4 police station was killed last month.'

One of the robbers, Simon Peter, now deceased, was identified as the one who shot and killed a policeman in Tema, a couple of weeks ago.

She further narrated that on February 24, 2012, at about 5:00 p.m., the police had a tip off that some armed robbers had planned to attack a Nigerian national in a house at Ogbojo, near Madina.

According to her, she immediately ordered the operations team to the said residence and laid ambush, and within a few minutes, three armed men on two motorbikes rode into the residence, and attacked the Nigerian national.

In the process, the robber's engaged the police in a shootout, resulting in two of the suspected armed robbers being shot and killed, while the third, whose name was given as Ramani, escaped with gunshot wounds.

COP Atinga Bio revealed that Rabiu, aka Rabba, one of the deceased robbers and his accomplices have been on the police wanted list, and are responsible for most robberies within the Accra and Tema Metropolis.

The police have, however, appealed to the general public, especially, persons working in health institutions, to help them with information, should anybody with gunshot wounds show up at their facilities for treatment.

The Regional Command expressed gratitude to their informants, and urged them to keep providing them with reliable information to help clamp down on the activities of armed robbers and other violent criminals.

A search on them revealed one foreign pistol and 10 rounds of ammunition, as well as three mobile phones.

Meanwhile, the bodies of the deceased persons have since been deposited at the morgue of the Police Hospital.

PIX SAVED IN FOLDER AS: the lifeless body of notorious robbers in Accra

2: Simon Peter, the armed robber who shot the policeman in Tema

3: Rabiu's lifeless body after the shootout with the police