MAN, 24, HELD OVER MURDER (PAGE 47)

THE police in Kumasi have arrested a 24-year-old man who is believed to have conspired with an accomplice to lure a business partner to a secluded area in Kumasi, and allegedly murdered him.
The deceased, identified as Atta Obiri Yeboah, 45, was believed to have been shot with a pump action gun at the back from close range in a Golf saloon car in which he was seated, killing him on the spot.
The suspect, identified as Prince Adu Boakye, and his accomplice, identified only as Francis, took an unspecified amount of money from the deceased before dumping his body at Apre in Kumasi.
A total of GH¢54,000 was retrieved from Prince Boakye after he was arrested.
He told the police that his accomplice took the lion’s share of the booty before escaping.
The suspect was alleged to have convinced the deceased, who dealt in currencies on the black market, to join a car that he (suspect) had borrowed from a friend to change some cedis into dollars.
It was on their way to change the cedis that they picked the accomplice, who allegedly shot the deceased with a pump action gun that he had concealed in his bag.
The body of the deceased, who is survived by a wife and four children, has already been deposited at the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital mortuary for autopsy.
Briefing newsmen on the incident, Chief Inspector Muhammad Yusif Tanko of the Police Public Affairs Unit in Kumasi said it occurred around 4 p.m. on August 4, 2009.
He said after the deceased had been shot at close range, the suspect and his accomplice allegedly put the body at the back seat of the Golf saloon car, with registration number AS5188 A, and drove it through some principal streets of Kumasi with the view to getting a secluded area to dump it.
He said after driving for about an hour through Atasemanso, Santasi and other places, they finally dumped the body at Apre before sharing the booty.
Explaining the circumstances that led to the murder of the deceased, Chief Inspector Tanko said around 9:30 a.m. on Tuesday, August 4, one Eric Gyamfi gave GH¢3,600 to the deceased and his friend, identified as Akwasi Agyei, to change into dollars.
He said the deceased and Agyei went to a friend at a timber firm in Kumasi, with the intention of changing the cedis into dollars and while they were there, the suspect joined them.
He said before that, Agyei had had an emergency call and left them.
He said the suspect, who also knew the timber merchant, collected a cheque from him (the timber merchant) and told the deceased that he should join a car he (suspect) had borrowed for them to cash the dollars from a bank.
He said on the way, the suspect had a telephone call from the accomplice and they hatched a plan to kill the deceased who had a lot of cedis on him.