POLICE FOIL ATTACK ON BUSINESSMAN (PAGE 25, MIRROR, MARCH 6, 2010)

From George Ernest Asare, Kumasi.

After feigning interest in a plot to attack a business tycoon in Kumasi, a 24-year-old man sneaked into the Kumasi Central Police to leak the plan and that saved the life of the businessman.
Jeremiah Benjamin Kyereboah allegedly hatched the plot and sought the assistance of the informant to rob his benefactor, the businessman, who deals in gold and diamonds, at gunpoint.
Kyereboah is alleged to have provided detailed description of the businessman, his itinerary for the day, the bank he would be withdrawing money from on that particular day and the route he would take.
However, unknown to Kyereboah, the police were listening to the information on the informant’s phone and they quickly moved in to arrest him.
Moments after he had been arrested, Kyereboah allegedly confessed the heinous intention he had nurtured over a period for a possible attack on his friend and benefactor.
Briefing The Mirror on the incident, Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Regina Addo-Yobo said the businessman, who is also the complainant, had been supporting the suspect in cash and in kind for some time now.
The source said it was that association that made it possible for the suspect to know about the business transactions and source of finance of the business tycoon.
She said around 5 p.m. on January 15, 2010, the suspect engaged the services of the informant, who is also the witness in the case, and others to rob the complainant who had been withdrawing money from both the Barclays and the Stanchart banks at 9 a.m. on a daily basis to facilitate his business.
According to DSP Addo-Yobo, the informant feigned interest in the deal and immediately alerted the police.
She said based on that, Kyereboah, who trades under the store where the complainant had his office at Dr Mensah in Kumasi, started monitoring the movements of the complainant on January 25, 2010 and leaked all the information on phone to the informant.
It was not until the police had foiled the attack that the businessman became aware of the eminent danger around him.
Even when the police invited the businessman for briefing on the supposed attack and assist in their investigations and prosecution of the alleged gangsters, the businessman politely declined the invitation.
She said upon his arrest, the suspect confessed that he had engaged the informant to rob the complainant of his money at gunpoint. He was, therefore, charged with the offence of attempted robbery.
He has been remanded in police custody to assist in investigations.