Cops Kill 5 Robbers

Five armed robbers who attacked the Engen Filling Station near the Meridian Hotel in Tema and robbed it of the day's proceeds were killed in an exchange of fire with personnel of the Buffalo Unit of the Ghana Police Service on Friday night.

Three accomplices, whose names are being withheld,are currently in custody assisting the Tema Regional Police Command in investigations.The police retrieved ¢250 million which the robbers had taken from the station. Among the deceased was Prince Tamakloe,35, described by the police as a tough,sharp and very experienced marksman.

Prince Tamakloe had been associated with the infamous gold bullion robbery,the robbery at the Legon Petrol Filling Station in which a sales girl was killed, and was reported to have led the robbery which resulted in the death of the son of the chief of Katamanso,near Tema.

Two of the deceased were identified only as K.K., 35, and Alhassan, 28, both ex-convicts who aided Prince Tamakloe in most of the recent robberies in the Tema/Accra area. K. K. was said to have been involved in the robbery at Ferro Fabric, manufacturers of iron rods, in Tema in 2002 and had since been on the run.

The two others are yet to be identified. All the five were known to be residents of Ashaiman Lebanon.A BMW saloon car, with registration number GT 7177 A, two revolvers, one pump-action gun and a quantity of AA cartridges were retrieved from the robbers.

The Tema Regional Police Commander,Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACOP), Mr Daniel Odai, who briefed the Graphic after the operation, said the police acting on intelligence that armed robbers were to attack the Engen Filling Station,laid ambush within the vicinity of the filling station at about 10:40 p.m.

He said at about 11:55 p.m., five armed robbers attacked the filling station and took the day's sales, amounting to ¢250 million, from the workers on duty.He said the police quickly swooped on them but the armed robbers opened fire on them missing one of the officers narrowly.

According to Mr Odai, the police returned fire, killing two of the armed robbers on the spot.He said the three others managed to escape in the BMW car but the police pursued them to Ashaiman Lebanon, where the robbers again engaged the police in a shoot-out, but the police proved their superiority in marksmanship and killed the other three too.

Mr Odai said when the police entered the room from where the armed robbers had been shooting at them, they found three people and subsequently arrested them to assist in investigations.

The Regional Commander called on members of the public to keep faith with the police and never hesitate to pass on any useful information about such dangerous elements in the society for the police to act.

He said it was through the elimination of such dangerous elements within society that the country's cherished democratic and peaceful atmosphere could be enhanced.