Police Nabbed For Snatching Taxi

Five persons including two police officers have been dragged before the Tema Circuit Court �A� presided over by Kyei Baffour for their alleged involvement in stealing and abetment of crime, to wit stealing. The five accused persons are Edward Annor, Christopher Apertey, both drivers, Enoch Amoah, Samuel Boamah, police officers stationed at Asamankese District Headquarters and one Justice. One person is currently on the run. The five however pleaded not guilty to the charges and were remanded into police custody pending further investigations. Presenting the facts of the case, the prosecutor, Chief Inspector Adolphus Otchere, told the court that on February 12, 2012 at about 9:00pm, the complainant, who was driving a wine-coloured Nissan Almera taxi cab with registration number GR 5109-12, was engaged by two passengers from Sakumono to Tema Community 1. The passengers, on reaching Tema Community 1, asked him to drive to Tema New Town and again redirected him to Aluworks area on the Kpone road. According to the prosecutor, when they got to the middle of the road, one of the passengers, who was seated at the front seat, sprayed a liquid substance into the driver�s eyes, blinding him temporarily. The passenger at the back seat then pointed a gun to the driver�s head and pushed him out of the taxi and sped off. The complainant, the prosecutor told the court, recovered after a few minutes and managed to seek the assistance of a security man on guard at Aluworks, near the scene of the incident and the case was reported at the police station. The first, second and forth accused later changed the original number plate of the taxi from GR 5901-12 to GR 4316-11 to avoid being identified. According to the prosecutor, the owner of the taxi was able to trace the taxi to Asamankese where it was found in a spraying shop with the aid of a tracking device, which was had been fixed in the car. He noted that police in Asamankese were alerted and the accused were arrested. Further investigations also indicated that Justice and his accomplice, who is now on the run, robbed the complainant and called Edward in Asamankese to search for a buyer. The second accused also contacted the third accused who showed interest and was invited on February 13, 2012 to meet the fifth accused and his accomplice at Nsawam to finalize the transaction. The prosecutor further told the court that the second accused sought the assistance of the third and forth accused to negotiate the price, after which the taxi was driven to Asamankese for re-spraying. They then bargained the price of the taxi for GH�6000.00 and part payment of GH�3000.00 was made to the fifth accused. The accused persons then took the car to a sprayer to change its original colour to Chelsea blue. But in the course of changing its colour, the taxi was located and the police were alerted. The prosecutor said with the help of the sprayer, the accused persons were arrested and brought to Tema while efforts were being made to arrest their accomplice who is currently on the run.