Adib Saani is a security analyst
• A recent robbery attack on a bullion van left a police constable on board it dead
• Security Analyst, Adib Saani believes the country is at war with robbery
• He has therefore suggested a robust war-like approach to tackling the growing menace
Following the daylight robbery on a bullion van at Jamestown in Accra, and the killing of a police constable escorting the vehicle, a security analyst, Adib Saani, has suggested a war-like neutralization approach to curtailing robberies in the country.
According to Adib Saani, in a statement made available to GhanaWeb, robbers of today have taken brazen approaches and therefore need to be tackled using a more robust approach.
“The brazen nature of attacks by armed robbers is a strategy to cause mass hysteria. It is a psychological approach to get Ghanaians to lose total confidence in the security architecture of the state.
“In the past, attacks were staged at night and against civilian targets. These days, not just civilians, but security officers are attacked and killed in broad daylight. It is a dangerous turn that demands a war-like approach to mitigate,” he wrote.
He added that with the way things are going, it would not be wrong to say that the country is at war with robbery cases and for which reason there should be a drastic approach devised towards dealing with it.
“It is safe to say that, we are at war. All state resources has to be brought to bear. We should seek external help, if we have to,” he said.
GhanaWeb’s chronology of events that happened during the robbery attack are as follows:
GhanaWeb brings you the full details of the event:
The incident as reported earlier by GhanaWeb occurred at a place with close proximity to the Bukom Boxing Arena around 11:00 am.
The robbers as confirmed by Superintendent Sheila Buckman of the Ghana Police Service used about three motorbikes to carry out the operation.
The bullion van which had registration number GT-8592 is owned by Mon-tran company and was being driven by a staff of the company.
The were two other female workers of the company who according to a police statement escaped unhurt but they are being treated for trauma after the incident.
The police officer was the first target of the robbers who shot him in the head before taking custody of his AK-47 rifle.
One of the tellers who left the car to seek protection was chased by the robbers and in the process a seller was killed. The seller has been identified as Joyce Amankwa, a 35-year-old woman.
The driver sustained gunshot wounds and is receiving treatment, the police statement of June 14 confirmed.
Eric Okyere, another witness is reported to have sustained wounds is currently at the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital receiving help.
Initial investigations revealed that the robbers used AK-47 rifles. The number of robbers is reported to be eight.
The police officer who was killed goes by the name Constable Emmanuel Osei and has the number 58449. He was a member of the National SWAT unit at the headquarters.
The Police picked up seventeen bullet shells at the scene.
The Inspector-General of Police has meanwhile warned that police officers will not be deployed to protect bullion vans until banks used armored vehicles for such activities.