The police in Tamale have arrested a suspected armed robber and his accomplice said to be involved in a robbery in Tema in the Greater Accra Region.
Based on a tip-off, the suspect, Alhassan Imrani, 38, was arrested at Banvim, a suburb of Tamale, last Saturday, September 5, 2020.
His accomplice, Mubarak Muntaka Mohammed, also 38, was arrested in Tamale yesterday.
According to the police, a search conducted at Imrani’s residence at Banvim led to the retrieval of three pistols, four mobile phones, one black laptop, the butt of an AK 47 assault rifle and a G3 empty magazine.
Other items recovered included six registered vehicle number plates, a pair of pliers, 98-auto 45 live ammunition, 165-auto 389 live ammunition, four empty pistol cartridges and a white Toyota Highlander, with registration number GW 3241-20.
Enquiries at a spraying shop in Tamale also led to the recovery of an ash Toyota Highlander that had its front and rear bumpers removed and which is suspected to have been snatched at gunpoint in Tema.
The police said the firearms, ammunition and vehicles retrieved were being kept as exhibits.
The suspects have been detained to assist with further investigations.
Modus operandi
When the Tamale Divisional Crime Officer, Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Mr Mick Omari Boakye, was contacted by the Daily Graphic, he said the suspect and his accomplice snatched cars from their owners in parts of the Greater Accra Region and sent them to Tamale, where the number plates of the cars were changed.
He said police investigations had led to the recovery of another Toyota Highlander from the suspect, bringing to three the number of vehicles of the same type that had been snatched from their owners in Tema and Ashaiman.
He said another associate of the suspect, who is believed to belong to a car-snatching syndicate, had also been arrested, adding that investigations were ongoing to bring all other accomplices to book.
DSP Boakye said Alhassan and his accomplices belonged to the same car-snatching syndicate that seized a Toyota Highlander from a university lecturer at gunpoint recently and killed one man in the same incident in Ashaiman.
He said when Imrani was arrested at Banvim last Saturday, he called Mohammed, who was in Ashaiman, and lured him to Tamale, where he too was arrested.
