POLICEMAN SHOT DEAD BY SUSPECTED ROBBERS (BACK PAGE, NOV 24, 2010)

A Detective Sergeant of the Ashanti Regional Police Command was found murdered by suspected armed robbers on the Wonoo–Kumawu road in the early hours of yesterday.
The deceased, Sergeant R. Akakpo, was said to have been attacked by a gang of armed robbers while travelling in his private saloon car.
Sources indicated that Sgt Akakpo, who died on the spot, following gunshot wounds he sustained, was attached to the Regional Criminal Investigations Department as a photographer.
The body of the deceased has been deposited at the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital for autopsy.
The Regional Police Command has started investigations into the incident.
The Regional Police Public Relations Officer, Chief Inspector Yusif Tanko, confirmed the incident and said investigations were underway to unravel the mystery behind the attack.
He also confirmed that the Sergeant was not in uniform when he was attacked.
At the time of going to press, the Regional Police Commander, Mr Patrick Timbilla, together with some other police personnel, were on their way to the spot where the incident occurred on a fact-finding mission as part of police investigations.
Three of the robbers were alleged to be in masks, and moments after they had gunned down the policeman, they escaped in a taxi they hijacked from a driver.
The robbers later abandoned the Opel Vectra with registration number GW 4303 S.
At a media briefing in Kumasi, Chief Inspector Tanko said the robbers blocked the road with logs and succeeded in attacking a couple who were on their way to hospital, robbing them of their mobile phone and cash.
He said Sgt Akakpo, who was by then travelling to Kumawu from Kumasi, chanced upon the couple lying on the road with the road blocked, so he attempted running over the logs, but the vehicle developed a fault, causing it to stop abruptly.
He said the robbers then ordered him to alight from the vehicle, and before he could alight, they shot him at close range.
Chief Inspector Tanko appealed to the public to volunteer information that would facilitate the arrest of the robbers.
The death of Sgt Akakpo is the third to be associated with robbers in the Ashanti Region in recent times.
Just before the 2008 elections, one Chief Inspector Joseph Nyame was gunned down by robbers, and on Sunday, September 19, 2010, Constable Frank William Blankson, who was on guard at Sweet Pub drinking spot at Danyame in Kumasi, was also shot dead by a gang of robbers.
The police reacted swiftly by arresting one of the suspects, identified as Hafix Malik, who had by then disguised himself by dressing like a woman.
Malik was arrested at Allah Bar when he had put on a headgear and a muffler with a baby girl strapped to his back to evade police arrest.
The police also arrested Maria Fuseini, 26, the sister of Malik, alleged to have aided her brother to disguise himself in an attempt to elude the police and travel to Tamale.