Operation ‘hire and rob’ hits Kumasi

The Ghana Police Service in Kumasi has identified a new modus operandi of armed robbers operating in the metropolis.

It has, therefore, warned taxi drivers, particularly those who work at night, to be wary of their passengers as some of them could be members of armed robbery gangs.

Addressing the press in Kumasi, the Ashanti Regional Police Commander, Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCOP) Nathan Kofi Boakye, said under the new modus operandi dubbed ‘hired and robbed’, the robbers hire the services of the taxi drivers and midway through the journey, “they attack them, take their money and vehicles from them.”

He said on August 3, for instance, at around 9:30 p.m., one Daniel Osei, a driver, fell victim to the acts of some of these armed robbers who attacked him with a nylon sponge and tied his neck to the driver’s seat.

According to DCOP Boakye, on the said date, the two suspects, Iddrisu Nuhu, aged 28, and Saeed Seseei, 32, hired the services of the driver from the Kumasi Central Market to Bekwai roundabout.

However, he said midway through the journey, when the car got to the Kumasi branch of GIMPA at Danyame, “the two suspects suddenly attacked the driver. They tied his neck with a nylon sponge against the driver’s seat and robbed him of his Samsung mobile phone and an unspecified amount of money and fled into the nearby bush.”

Luck, however, eluded them as the victim raised an alarm which attracted people to the scene. They were subsequently given a hot chase and apprehended.

The two are currently in police custody assisting in investigation.