Arrested robbers threaten village

The Statesman -- Wirenkyiren-Amanfrom (Eastern Region)
The recent arrest of five alleged armed robbers by village vigilantes have sparked warnings of vendetta against the community, whose grit in taking the gang armed men on has been rewarded by their DCE with the planned construction of a kindergarten.

But, obviously not the kind to be intimidated on their own turf, the chiefs and people of Wirenkyiren-Amanfrom, near Kyebi in the Eastern Region, have fired back. They have also vowed to defend the last drop of their blood if the threat issued by alleged collaborators of the five suspects of Nigerian stock were to be carried out.

As widely reported in the press, the five were among a larger unspecified gang who mounted a roadblock and attacked and robbed about a score of motor vehicles with passengers traveling on the Accra-Kumasi road on Friday 28 June 2002. They were finally busted by a joint military-police team on the outskirts of Wirenkyiren-Amanfrom, acting on a tip from the locals, some of whom had earlier taken the courageous decision to place the heavily armed men under citizens? arrest.

The threat was issued to the community through a letter posted at Densuso, a nearby village on the Accra-Kumasi road. Obaapanin Ofosuwaa Ntriwaa II, Queenmother of Wirenkyiren-Amanfrom, gave her people?s counter-warning when the East Akyem District Chief Executive (DCE), Victor E. Asihene, met the community last week.

The meeting was held to commend the chiefs and people of the small sleep town for arresting the five suspects. The suspects had earlier mounted a roadblock at Asiakwa, near Kyebi, and robbed frightened traveling passengers of their money and other personal effects.

The Queenmother warned: ?We are armed with our hunting guns, cutlasses and cudgels and are prepared to meet any group of armed robbers who?ll venture into this area to harass us.? She added: ?We undertook a patriotic duty to arrest these criminals and we?re warning all other armed robbers to stay out of this area because we?ve organised vigilante groups to arrest and hand them over to the police.

The arrested men Joseph ?Osumbo? Okeke, 25, Kelvin Ogbounaya, 22, Mike ?Fiagbe? Egbe, 30, Chucks Eke, 22 and ?Ezeuduji? ringleader who claims to be a university graduate. A sixth, called Isaac, is said to be on the run. The DCE, who commended the community for their act of bravery, announced that the East Akyem District Assembly is to construct a kindergarten in the town to serve as a monument for the exemplary role the people played in arresting the five-armed robbers who had taken refuge within the area.

Asihene said his meeting with the community was to show the government?s appreciation for their patriotic duty in arresting the armed robbers even before the arrival of the police and military patrol team that was dispatched to the area. He presented a bottle of schnapps, gin and a cash donation of ?400,000 to the chiefs and people and promised that the kindergarten would be constructed before the end of this year.

He also promised that he would meet the chiefs and people of Akyem-Odumase, who also participated in the exercise at a later date, adding, ?the government appreciates your patriotic duty to help arrest the armed robbers.?

He said certain people are trying to use the new democratic dispensation to create a sense of insecurity to upset the governance of the country. ?But since the Constitution only allows a government to be removed through the ballot box, we will not be deterred by such criminal acts,? he assured the people.

The suspects, before their arrest, had allegedly seized a BMW salon car from a lecturer at the Law Faculty, University of Ghana, Legon, but after realising that there was not enough fuel in the car, they abandoned the vehicle at Wirenkyiren-Amanfrom and took to the bush where the town folk mobilised themselves into search groups and arrested them and handed them over to the joint police-military patrol team.