Police at Asante Mampong in the Ashanti Region have gunned down a suspected robber on the Mampong-Ejura highway after a fierce gun battle.
The suspect was part of a six-member gang terrorising passengers between Woraso and Sataso stretch of the highway at about 8pm on Saturday 12 December.
The District Police Commander, Chief Supt Stephen Boadu, said a patrol team that rushed to the scene following a distress call met the armed men with two wielding pump action guns and the rest holding cutlasses.
One of the suspects was hit with a bullet after the armed men engaged the police in a fierce gun battle.
He was pronounced dead at the scene while the rest managed to escape into a nearby bush upon sensing danger.
Spate of Robberies in Kumasi
The region has witnessed a number of daytime robbery attacks in the past few months, raising fears about security.
In July, a member of the Seventh-Day Adventist Church was robbed and gunned down in Kumasi.
On 12 October, the Ashanti regional director of the Electoral Commission, Benjamin Bannor Bio, was attacked and robbed at gunpoint on the highway between Anwiankwanta and Obuasi while returning from official trip to the Western Region.
On 20 October, a Chinese national Ting Tiant was shot by suspected armed robbers in Kumasi at a mobile money joint.
The incident in the Ashanti regional capital occurred after a 36 -year-old man had been shot dead at Atonsu in the Asokwa Municipality.
No cause for alarm
However, the Ashanti Regional Police Command has assured residents that the region is safe, despite the string of robberies.
ASP Ahianyo has denied reports suggesting that the region is no longer safe.
“Let me just assure the general public that Kumasi is safe. We just recorded isolated cases: it is not that Kumasi is unsafe, it is ungovernable, and that there is insecurity in the region,” he said.
The police continue to hunt for the robbery suspects so far not apprehended.
Jonathan Ofori
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