MY FRIEND FOOLED ME TO ESCAPE (MIRROR, PAGE 23)

From Vincent Amenuveve, Tamale

Drama unfolded at the Tamale Circuit court when Johnson Kombian alias Garkum, 32, an elusive armed robber, told the court that he was “fooled” by his late friend to escape from the Tamale prisons in January 2006.
Johnson, therefore, pleaded for clemency as he claimed he did not know what he was doing but the court, presided over by Mr John Nabrase, did not take his plea.
He was sentenced to 56 months imprisonment with hard labour for escaping from lawful custody.
A Public Relations Officer of the Ghana Police Service, Chief Inspector Ebenezer Tetteh, who made this known to The Mirror in Tamale last Monday, said the facts of the case indicated that Johnson escaped from prison custody at Gambaga in 2005.
He was re-arrested and remanded into prison custody but escaped again in early 2006 which led to the dismissal of a number of officers at the Tamale prisons as well as the reduction in the rank of some of the officers who were on duty.
Mr Tetteh said on August 24, 2009, Johnson was nabbed by the police at his hideout in Bolgatanga in the Upper East Region.
Three out of his seven alleged accomplices were also arrested during separate operations carried out by the police at Nakpanduri and Bolgatanga.
They are Fiindib Kona alias Soja, 32, Fuseini Ibrahim, 30 and Naana Kofi alias Accra boy, 25.
Briefing the media last week on the arrests, the Northern Regional Police Commander, Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP), Angwubutoge Awuni, said Johnson had been on the wanted list since 2005 for his alleged involvement in eight robberies including the murder of a military personnel at Nakpanduri in 2007.
Johnson was also alleged to be responsible for the robbery at the BESSFA Rural Bank at Garu, the robbery, kidnapping and attempted murder of one Mathias Jato at Nakpanduri on August 1, 2005, May 5 and June 20, 2009, respectively.
According to ACP Awuni, the criminal records also showed that Johnson stole an AK 47 assault rifle from the Nakpanduri Police Station on April 26, 2005, adding that other crimes committed by Johnson were still under investigation.