ROBBERS FLUSHED OUT...After gun-battle with police (LEAD STORY, JULY 26, 2010)

Story: George Ernest Asare, Kumasi

THE police at the weekend crushed what was believed to be an armed robbery training school at Atwima Koforidua, near Kumasi.
However, the exercise, which was undertaken in broad daylight by the Buffalo Unit of the Ashanti Regional Police Command, triggered a gun battle, as the over 20 robbers at the training school fiercely resisted arrest, resulting in the Regional Buffalo Commander, DSP Rev Samuel Adane–Ameyaw, sustaining gunshot wounds in the left leg, while one of the alleged robbers, identified only as Asante, was also shot dead.
The commander was rushed to the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH), where he was treated and discharged, while the body of the deceased has been deposited at the morgue of the hospital.
The police said the training school had been a no-go area for residents, as the robbers had warned that anyone found in the area would be shot.
Acting on a hint that the suspects had cleared a place to train suspected armed robbers, the police attempted to round them up about 2 p.m. last Friday.
Just as the police approached the area, the suspects allegedly dashed into the bush, retrieved a number of weapons that they had hidden there and opened fire on the police, who returned fire.
It was in the process of the gun battle that the commander of the team was hit in the left leg, while one of the suspects was hit in the neck, dying on the spot.
The police retrieved a locally manufactured pistol, a shotgun, a machete, as well as quantities of dried leaves suspected to be Indian hemp and dry gin from the scene.
About 10 suspects who were rounded up during the operation have, however, been released on police enquiry bail.
According to the Ashanti Regional Police Public Relations Officer, Chief Inspector Yusif Tanko, the suspects were released because initial investigations revealed that they were not connected with the incident.
Briefing the Daily Graphic on the incident, Chief Inspector Tanko said on October 24, 2009, a farmer, who was identified as Yaw Akoto, was shot and killed at Atwima Koforidua.
He said eyewitness accounts identified the killer as Kwaku Asante, who escaped police arrest and had since been on the police wanted list.
He said police intelligence reports proved that the fugitive had returned to Atwima Koforidua and organised a number of armed robbers to train them in weapon handling, a development which informed the police to intervene.
Chief Inspector Tanko said last Friday when the suspect and his gang were at the training ground, a team of police officers from the Buffalo Unit was dispatched to the place to effect their arrest but just when the police were closing in on them, the alleged robbers opened fire, hitting the commander of the team in the left leg.
He said the police returned fire, hitting Asante in the neck and killing him in the process.
He said the leader of the gang, Kwaku Asante, and some his accomplices, however, managed to escape.