Suspected armed robber lynched

Tanoso(B/A), May 07, GNA - A horrific incident occurred at Tanoso on the Kumasi-Techiman highway at the weekend when a mob captured, brutally assaulted and set a suspected armed robber on fire alive at the outskirts of the town.

When Ghana New Agency reached the scene the charred remains of the yet to be identified robber, said to be about 23 years, were left lying by the side of the highway and attracting hundreds of curious people. Some passengers and drivers on vehicles that passed by were heard congratulating the perpetrators of the instant justice for "a job well done" much to the chagrin of others.

Eye witnesses told the GNA that the alleged armed robber and an accomplice on Sunday morning attacked Galazy Oil Ghana Limited, a fuel filling station at the outskirts of the town and amid firing with an AK 47 rifle took away 40,569,000 cedis, being the previous night's sales. The witnesses said after the robbery, the suspects run into a nearby bush but an eyewitness to the incident rushed to town and raised the alarm.

The residents mostly the youth in response mobilized and mounted a manhunt for them.

However, luck eluded one of them who was captured after being shot in the leg and brought to the filling station, where Mr Emmanuel Otchere, Manager of the station kept him in a room for his safety and went to report to the police.

Mr Otchere said 8,520,000 cedis and a mobile phone were found on the captured suspected robber. The accomplice is on the run.

Mr Otchere told the GNA that when he returned to the station with the police, he realized that the mob had broken into the room, brought out the suspected robber and set him ablaze.

Asked why he could not initially send the suspect to the police, Mr Otchere replied that the irate mob was so incensed that he could have been lynched as well if he had attempted to do so.

He said a Burkinabe and some relatives who had stopped at the station in their car to purchase fuel and run into the bush when the suspected robbers opened fire was assaulted by the mob and nearly lynched as they mistook him to be the accomplice.

Mr Otchere said the Burkinabe was taken to the Holy Family hospital at Techiman and was admitted, but enquiries at the hospital by the GNA in the company of a policeman revealed that his relatives had taken him away since they were on their way to Burkina Faso when the incident happened.

A police spokesman deplored the behaviour of the residents, and cited an incident when a man and a woman who became stranded in the town and were looking for a vehicle to Techiman were nearly lynched had it not been "our smartness" to grant them police enquiry bail.

The mob, some of them wielding guns and other offensive weapons, had brought them to the police station apparently on suspicion that they were members of the gang that attacked the filling station. Police are investigating the case.

Meanwhile Police Chief Superintendent Kwadwo Peprah Addai, Techiman Municipal Police Commander, has reiterated the appeal to people to desist from meting out instant justice to suspects. He explained that such action affected police investigations into cases as all clues of evidence could be destroyed through such behaviour.

"Such actions make our work difficult and I appeal to all and sundry to exercise patience and allow the police to unravel all leads into such cases," he added.

The Municipal Police Commander appealed to residents within the municipality to assist the police in their duties to operate efficiently and effectively to protect life and property. 07 May 07