Two persons who have been on the wanted list of the police for their alleged involvement in a series of robberies and the snatching of wedding rings in some parts of Teshie, near Accra, have been arrested.
The suspects, identified as Ernest Atani, 25, and Roland Darkey, 22, are said to be members of a gang that terrorises residents of Teshie and its environs.
According to the police, since their arrest, the two suspects have led investigators to more than 16 houses where they collected the wedding rings of their victims, after robbing them of their valuables.
Suspects cut fingers
Demonstrating how they robbed people of their wedding and engagement rings at the Accra Regional Police Headquarters where they were paraded, the suspects said they usually pulled the rings off the fingers of their victims after looting their houses.
In some instances, the suspects reportedly cut off the ‘ring fingers’ of their victims since they could not remove their rings easily. They told police investigators that the stolen rings, mostly gold, were sold to goldsmiths who remoulded and sold them to prospective couples.
One of the suspects, Atani, described how he was recruited into the gang a year ago and decided to continue robbing people even after his friends were arrested.
Showing no remorse, the two suspects gladly posed for media practitioners to take their photographs.
Gang members convicted
Two of the gang members who were arrested by the police in September this year have since been convicted by an Accra Circuit Court.
The convicts, Adabire Macday and Simon Sowah who were arrested for their involvement in robberies in Teshie Rasta, Tsuibleo, Okpoigorno, Greda Estate, Fertiliser, Agblezaa and other suburbs of Teshie, were sentenced to 45 and 70 years with hard labour respectively.
Briefing journalists, the Accra Regional Commander, Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCOP) Mr Christian Tetteh Yohuno, who described the arrest of the two suspects as a success in the fight against crime, said it was also a relief to the residents of Teshie and its environs.
“Following the arrest of the first two suspects who have now been prosecuted and convicted, the police continued to pursue the other members of the gang and we have now arrested two more suspects,” he said.
Although Mr Yohuno said the police strongly believed other members of the gang were on the run, he could not state how many they were.
“For the sake of our investigations, we cannot put out much information about the suspects. They know we are looking for them and we will not stop until we bring all of them to book,” he said.
He added that the two suspects who were arrested on November 6, 2015 would be put before the courts.
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