Five Forex Bureau robbers grabbed

Five-member armed robbery gang, including a woman, that attacked Bulisa Forex Bureau located at Tema Community One last February and made away with several foreign and local currencies, has been arrested by the Accra Regional Police Command.

The robbery gang also included twin brothers. The police, in addition, arrested another set of robbers on the Dodowa-Accra road.

The first set of robbers comprised Sarpomaa Dora, 30, Frank Amagartse aka Olenge or Papa, 37, the leader and an ex-convict, Stanley Abeiku Sey aka Burger, 36, and twin brothers Dennis Laweh and Albert Laweh, both 27.

Frank was apparently released from prison in 2009 through the Justice for all Programme, after spending 10 years for robbing the Tema branch of the Agricultural Development Bank and Tema Harbour container.

The breakdown of money robbed from the forex bureau was GH¢212,291, $63,705, £20,212, €30, CFA 8597, Naira 20,500, Canadian Dollar 1300, 220 Swiss France, 172 Cameroonian CFA, all totalling GH¢221,291.

The suspects, after sharing the booty, used the money to buy luxurious vehicles including Infiniti, Toyota Camry, and a black Jeep.

All the vehicles had been impounded by the police.

The police grabbed the robbers on Saturday June 8, 2013, at Tema around 6:00am upon a tip-off.

Briefing the media, DCOP Christian Tetteh Yohuno, the Accra Regional Police Commander, together with his deputy, ACP Timothy Yoosa Bonga, said the suspects robbed the forex bureau in broad daylight and made away with the cash on February 17, 2013.

He said suspect Frank Amegartse was a family friend to the owner of the forex bureau and knew most of their business transactions.

Two days prior to the robbery, the owner of the forex bureau went to the bank to withdraw an amount of GH¢42,000 with the intention of purchasing an articulated truck for his son.

This information was also known to suspect Frank Amegartse.

On February 16, 2013, the five met and hatched a plan to rob the forex bureau.

They then sent suspects Sarpomaa Dora and another woman yet-to-be-identified to the forex bureau to do their survey.

The two female suspects, under the pretext of changing huge Ghanaian cedis into Naira, enquired from the victim, the exchange rate, and the workforce currently at the forex bureau.

The victim then replied that they were only two working at the bureau and when the victim went on to request their money to change, the suspects said they would return later for the transaction and left.

On Sunday February 17, 2013, around 5:00pm, the gang stormed the forex bureau, attacked the two workers and robbed them of the money after which they speed off in a Nissan March taxi.

Investigations conducted by the police revealed that Frank recruited the four others to rob the victim.

Frank was also the brain behind the robbery activities recorded in Tema recently, according to the police boss.

Dodowa Juju Robbers

In a related development, the Accra Regional Police Command has also arrested five suspected armed robbers including a jujuman for attempted robbery.

The five were Kwasi Addo, 26, Kwame Appiah aka Shamo, 37, Francis Ametodzi aka Sea Never Dry, the Jujuman, 32, Besa Odonkor, 32, and Emmanuel Manortey aka Jara, 36.

The suspects, according to DCOP Yohuno, were grabbed by the police at a snap checkpoint on the Dodowa road.

Three double barrel locally made guns with nine cartridges were found on them.

The suspects, using a BMW saloon car with registration number GT 802W and a home-use Daihastu vehicle with DV number plate, pulled up at the checkpoint from Dodowa direction around 8:00pm of June 7, 2013.

The demeanour of the occupants was suspicious so police thoroughly searched the vehicles and uncovered the items concealed in a small bag in the BMW vehicle.

The five suspects were immediately grabbed but the sixth person managed to escape.

Francis, who was driving the BMW, claimed ownership of two of the pistols and the nine cartridges while Besa Odonkor also claimed ownership of the double barrel locally made gun.

During interrogation, the suspects confessed that they were engaged by the sixth suspect now at large, to Pantang near Accra from Somanya to rob his boss, a white man whom they claimed had huge sums of money in his residence.

The suspects said the sixth person had a rendezvous at Francis’ house in Somanya where his shrine was consequently consulted.

The green light was given to the suspects by the jujuman so they made the move but unfortunately they were grabbed.

Attempts are being made to arrest the sixth suspect whose name is being withheld by the police for now, he added.