Highway Robbers Nabbed

The five suspected robbers Zakari Schwarzenegger (right) who dressed like a woman

THE POLICE in the Ashanti Region have arrested five suspected highway robbers including one Zakari Schwarzenegger, who was dressed like a woman.

The alleged robbers blocked the Mankranso-Tepa highway with firewood in the wee hours of Monday, robbing travelling passengers at gunpoint.

The police, led by ASP Vitus Napen, the Mankranso District Police Commander, chased the suspected armed robbers numbering about eight, on foot, for about eight kilometers in a thick bush around 3:30am, before they were able to apprehend three of them.

This was after the gangsters had engaged the police in a fierce gun battle which ensued immediately the policemen arrived at the crime scene where the hoodlums were robbing passengers on board six vehicles including Sprinter, Urvan and Benz buses.

The police, on Tuesday morning, arrested one of the suspected robbers at his hideout, whilst locals of one of the villages around the crime scene also grabbed another suspect, increasing the number of the arrested suspects to five.

Briefing the media on Tuesday, DCOP Augustine Gyenning, the Ashanti Regional Police Commander, gave the names of the other arrested persons, three of whom are of Fulani extraction, as Damba Abdulai, 24, Ali Mohammed, Hamidu Abdulai and Mohammed, 20.

He said four of the grabbed suspects have so far been identified by some of the victims of the robbery, adding that the other one who was arrested by locals of one of the towns near the crime scene was insisting he was innocent.

Narrating what happened, DCOP Gyenning said around 3:30am of Monday, a Kia truck driver rushed to the Mankranso Police Station to report an ongoing highway robbery at a spot on the Mankranso-Tepa highway.

The police, led by ASP Napen, immediately rushed to the scene where they were met with gunshots from all angles by the hoodlums who had blocked the road with firewood and were robbing passengers on board six vehicles.

The police also returned fire, compelling the gangsters to run into the dark and thick bush. The policemen pursed them for about eight kilometers before three of the suspects including Schwarzenegger were arrested. Schwarzenegger wore a head gear and had breast-like items on his chest that portrayed him as a woman.

The police, who were bent on arresting the remaining five gangsters, on Tuesday morning managed to grab one of them at a different spot, with the locals of one of the towns in the area also arresting another suspect.

DCOP Gyenning said an amount of GH¢2,600 belonging to the victims of the highway attack were found on the suspects, adding that a bag containing six mobile phones belonging to the victims was taken away by one of the locals that helped the police in arresting the hoodlums.

He cautioned the person in possession of the bag to return it to the police with immediate effect to avoid having any issue with the law, warning that that person would be dealt with if arrested by the police.

DCOP Gyenning commended ASP Napen and his men for going after the robbers in the dark and thick bush, urging them to sustain their exemplary works.

Meanwhile, one of the victims of the robbery attack, Elizabeth Serwah, whose amount of GH¢8,200 was taken by the robbers, said the goons were about to cause more havoc to them when the police arrived.

She said all the victims on board the six vehicles got terrified when the robbers engaged the policemen in a fierce gun battle, adding that the police later had to escort their bus to the police station.

 FROM I.F. Joe Awuah Jnr., Kumasi