2 Real Soldiers, Civilian Accomplices Grabbed For Robbery

As if dealing with imposters using its name to commit crimes is not enough, the Ghana Armed Forces is once again in the news for the wrong reasons. The police yesterday announced the arrest of two serving soldiers and their two civilian accomplices for attempting to rob an unsuspecting victim of his cash at the Global Access Bank at Lapaz in Accra. The two soldiers were identified as Lance Corporal Obeng Darko Stylish, 29, of the Engineering Training School at Burma Camp, and Lance Corporal Dasmani Faisal, 27, of the 49 Engineering Regiment at Teshie. The civilian accomplices are Christopher Quainoo, 27, and Isaac Larbi, 25, both unemployed. Just like the two fake soldiers in The Finder�s yesterday front page story, the suspects also trailed their victims after they had cashed money from banks before robbing them. According to the Tesano Divisional Commander, Chief Superintendent Francis Aboagye-Nyarko, Quainoo and Larbi often loiter around the premises of banks to monitor customers as they withdraw money and then give out the information about those who withdraw heavy sums of money to the soldiers. �With the information, the soldiers then trail the unsuspecting victims and rob them of their cash,� Chief Superintendent Aboagye-Nyarko said. The Global Access Bank branch at Lapaz reported to the police about complaints from customers about attacks on them by some soldiers after they have cashed their money from the bank. The police therefore put the bank under surveillance. Chief Superintendent Aboagye-Nyarko said last Saturday police saw Larbi monitoring customers as they withdrew cash and then relayed the information to Lance Corporal Dasmani and Lance Corporal Darko. The police officer, suspicious of Larbi�s movement, seized the phone from him and, pretending to be Larbi, asked the two soldiers to come over for the money. The two soldiers immediately rushed to the bank and into the hands of the police. Chief Supt Aboagye-Nyarko added that a week before last Saturday�s arrest, a staff of the bank went through an ordeal at the hands of the suspects when the bank worker was trailed and abducted into a taxi by the suspects. The banker was thoroughly searched by the suspects but they could not get anything from him so they abandoned him at the Apenkwa footbridge and sped off. Upon interrogation, the suspects admitted the offence. They told the police that last Saturday�s incident was their fourth try at ripping bank customers of their cash. They were successful in the previous three attempts, they said. He called on anyone who had fallen prey to the suspects to contact the Odorkor Police or the nearest police station.