Car Snatching Gang Arrested; Seven Stolen Cars Retrieved Mostly Toyota Brands

The police have arrested what they term a car-snatching syndicate, arrested seven persons and retrieved seven stolen vehicles in the process.

The suspects include five men alleged to be part of a gang that has terrorised motorists and stolen their vehicles, while the other two are said to be the buyers of the stolen vehicles.

The seven vehicles retrieved from the suspects comprised two Toyota Corolla cars, two Toyota Yaris cars, a Daewoo Matrix car, a Kia Picanto taxi and a Kia Morning.

The police retrieved two locally manufactured pistols from the suspects.

The police gave the names of the suspected car snatchers as Evans Nuertey, 27; Prince Ayittey, 28; Ibrahim Muntari, 29, all drivers; Abubakari Saddique, aka French Man, a 29-year-old commercial motorbike rider; and Stephen Waje, aka Borsoo, 30, a trader.

Those arrested for buying the stolen vehicles have been identified as Theophilus Kofi, 28, a sports game operator, and Nii Okine, 49, a businessman.

The gang is also alleged to be behind the attacks on mobile money vendors in some parts of Accra.

Modus operandi
Briefing the Daily Graphic, the Accra Regional Police Commander, Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCOP) Mr Frederick Adu, said investigations by the police revealed that the syndicate operated by making one member hire the services of a taxi to an unknown destination.

In the course of the journey, he said, other accomplices would join and overpower the driver, seize all valuables, including mobile phones, and take the vehicle at gunpoint.

Preliminary investigations by the police, he said, showed that when the vehicles were robbed, the gang either resprayed and sold it or used it to facilitate their robbery operations, especially attacks on mobile money vendors.

DCOP Adu said the syndicate was uncovered following the arrest of two members, Muntari and Waje, on March 8, 2020 at Pokuase by the Amasaman Patrol Team for possessing firearms without lawful authority.

Arrest
DCOP Adu said during interrogation, the two led the police to arrest Nuertey, Saddique and Ayittey at Odumasi near Olebu, and Mankrong near Suhum, on March 18, 2020.

Further investigations, he said, disclosed that Muntari and Waje were the robbers who attacked mobile money operators around Alhaji Tabora, Lom Nava, Pokuase and Fan-Milk area.

He said the two suspects had admitted to a string of robberies on mobile money operators.

Waje and Nuertey, according to the Accra Regional Police Commander, had also been identified as the suspects who snatched a Kia Picanto taxicab with registration number GC 2094-19 at gunpoint from its owner at Sowutuom and later changed the number plate of the vehicle to GE-547-19.

The vehicles, he said, were sold to Kofi and Okai at Suhum in the Eastern Region, and on April 3, 2020, a team of policemen were dispatched to Suhum to arrest the two buyers and they were able to retrieve five of the vehicles.

The two other vehicles, he explained, were intercepted during the arrest of the suspected car snatchers.

---graphic.com.gh