A police officer escorting Richard Adom aka ‘Abortion.
A NOTORIOUS CAR snatcher has been shot dead while three of his accomplices sustained gunshot wounds in Kumasi on Friday.
Two of the suspects who sustained gunshots are in police grips.
In a typical Hollywood fashion, the robbers, who were fleeing with a stolen taxi, opened fire at the police officers without provocation, compelling the law enforcement agents to return fire.
The ensuing gun battle lasted for some minutes, resulting in the death of Daniel Osei, 22, alias Daniso, the Ashanti Regional Police Commander DCOP Patrick Timbillah told journalists.
The horrific incident occurred at Breman, a surburb of Kumasi, when the robbers were running away with a Nissan taxi cab registered GE 2175-11, which they had snatched in Accra the same day.
The three who sustained gunshot wounds included Kwame Atta, 23, alias Flow and Richard Adom, 24, aka Abortion, who are in police custody.
The third wounded suspect’s name was given as Yaw Mike, 24, a native of Breman who managed to escape arrest.
Items such as one locally manufactured pistol, a sharp knife, four used cartridges, two unused cartridges, cellotape and some drugs in bottles were found on the robbers.
The two car snatchers have been sent to the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH) for medical attention and the body of the deceased has been put in the mortuary of the same hospital.
DCOP Timbillah said a tracking device fixed in the stolen car proved valuable as it helped police in Accra to collaborate with their colleagues in Kumasi to track the robbers, resulting in their arrest.
According to him, his outfit, on Friday morning, received information from Accra that a red and yellow taxi cab had been snatched at Kasoa around 4:30am.
He said through the tracking device fixed in the car, which was unknown to the robbers, the police, after several hours, realized that the car snatchers were at Obuasi and heading towards Kumasi.
DCOP Timbillah said later in the day, his outfit received another information from Accra that the stolen taxi was at Suame Magazine so the Buffalo Unit of the police were quickly informed and they rushed there.
When the police reached Suame Magazine, they got additional information that the car was heading towards Offinso from Kumasi so they tracked the hoodlums until they caught up with them at Breman.
Initially, the police attempted to block the road to stop the car snatchers from fleeing but the robbers tried to run their car over them.
Fearing that they would be apprehended, the car snatchers started shooting at the police officers, who also shot back.
The gun exchange resulted in the death of Daniel Osei aka Daniso while the three other accomplices, two of whom are in police grips and one on the run, sustained gunshot wounds.
DCOP Timbillah implored medical facilities and herbalists in the region to quickly report to the police any person that would come there for medical attention for gunshot wounds.
The police capo admitted that but for the tracking device in the stolen car, there was no way the police could have arrested the hoodlums on the same day. He therefore urged the populace to patronize the device.
He warned armed robbers in the region that he and his men were still around and ever ready to flush them out of the system so they should heed his warning and shun robbery.
Modern day policing, DCOP Timbillah reiterated, was a shared responsibility between the police and the general public, entreating the latter to supply valuable information that would lead to the arrest of hoodlums.
From I.F. Joe Awuah Jnr., Kumasi