POLICE ARREST FIVE ARMED ROBBERS (PAGE 39, MIRROR, DEC 5)

From Vincent Amenuveve, Tamale.

THE Northern Regional Police Command has arrested five suspected armed robbers, three of whom are believed to be of Fulani extraction.
The suspects are believed to have been terrorising and robbing residents of Salaga and Nakpanduri in the East Gonja and Bunkpurugu-Yunyoo districts of their monies and property.
Three of the suspects were arrested while preparing for a robbery attack on the residents of Salaga on November 30, 2009, while the rest were arrested at Nakpanduri on November 29, 2009. Those arrested at Nankpanduri were reportedly linked to a number of armed robbery cases at Garu in the Upper East Region, as well as the Belfast Rural Bank robbery at Nakpanduri in 2005.
Briefing journalists in Tamale, the Deputy Regional Police Commander, Chief Superintendent Lord Obeng-Mensah, mentioned the robbers as Bubey Abdulai Atik, 18, who is the leader of the Fulani suspects, Osmanu Gariba, 30, and Fusseini Bariwu. The rest are Seidu Issifu Dadzi, 40, a mechanic, and Daniel Kombian, 19, unemployed.
According to Chief Superintendent Obeng-Mensah, items such as a locally made pistol, four AA catridges, two unregistered motorbikes, one sharp cutlass, and an AK 47 magazine were retrieved from the robbers at their hideout in Salaga.
He explained that around 6:00pm on November 30, 2009, the Police, upon a tip-off, went on a patrol in the area. At that moment, the three Fulani robbers were allegedly organising themselves to attack and rob residents of the area, but they were stopped by the Police.
The commander explained that Atik, the leader of the gang operating in the Salaga area who was wielding an AK 47 assault rifle with 18 rounds of ammunition, was overpowered by the police personnel on duty after a fierce physical struggle had ensued between him and the police.
When the police searched his hideout, two other accomplices were arrested and the items they usually used for their robberies were retrieved by the police.
Chief Superintendent Obeng-Mensah further stated that the other two robbers who had been operating around Nankpanduri and parts of the Upper East Region were arrested by the police while they were also preparing to rob residents of the area.
The commander stressed that the suspects would be arraigned, cautioning suspected armed robbers operating in the region that the police would continue to pursue them wherever they operated.