Robbers Invade Accra Suburb

Residents of Fadama, a suburb of Accra and its environs, are living in a state of fear and apprehension as they are being harassed and terrorized on daily basis by a notorious armed robbery group. The terror gang of armed robbers, the Today newspaper can report, operates usually between the hours of 4:00 a.m., to 5:30 am. The modus operandi of the Fadama robbery squad is that they usually come around riding on motor bikes and wielding knives and cutlasses, and attack residents who set off to their work places at dawn. The paper gathered that the terror robbers rob passersby and residents of all their belongings. Some of the items, the robbers take away in their robbery spree, include mobile phones, jewelries and monies. One of such incidents occurred in the early hours of last week Thursday, 4th February, 2010, when a lady and her mother were both attacked and robbed at knife and gun point. According to them, the incident happened around 5:00 a.m., when they were at the main Fadama road side to pick a tro-tro to Accra. �We were at the roadside just in front of the Fadama Apostolic Church when four guys riding a Suzuki motorbike pulled knives and guns on us. They asked us to give them our bags and phones or die right there; they took everything we had on us including our mobile phones,� recounted Naakei Addo and Adjoa, the victims of the robbery attack. Another victim, who gave his name as Nii Armah Arday, also recalled his ordeal in the hands of this terror squad. �I was attacked last week Monday, 1st January, 2010 around 4:00 a.m. I was standing in front of the Fadama public school waiting for a tro-tro to board to work when two guys on a motorbike approached and pulled out a sharp cutlass on me and silently asked me to bring my phone and monies or be stabbed to death.� �I did not know what to do at this point; since my life was the most important thing at that point in time, I gave them everything I had on me,� narrated Nii Armah. Some of the concerned residents who spoke in an interview with 'Today' decried the situation and appealed to the police patrol team to beef up its security activities in the Fadama-North Kaneshie area, especially between the hours of 4:00 a.m., to 6:00 am. �The armed robbers will not stop harassing us because anytime they attack they get what they want and there is no security here so they keep on attacking us,� one of the concerned residents told the Today newspaper.