Kumasi, Aug. 3, GNA - A suspected armed robber was on Sunday killed at Akrokeri near Obuasi in an exchange of fire with a police/military patrol team.

The deceased who was identified as Osmanu Gado, had been on the police wanted list since 2001, for masterminding a number of armed robberies in Kumasi and other parts of the Ashanti Region. The patrol team retrieved a four-wheel-drive vehicle, with registration number GT 585 S, which the deceased and his three accomplices were driving, two AK 47 assault rifles with three magazines loaded with 48 rounds of ammunition, a single barrel shot gun, a knife and mask.

Two of the three, who managed to escape, were identified as Rashid and Awudu Laifa, while the identity of the third is yet to be known. The Deputy Regional Police Commander, Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) Kwasi Mensah Duku told a press briefing that the police received a tip off that a gang of armed robbers were on their way to Dunkwa On-Offinso for operation. A team of security personnel were dispatched to patrol the Kumasi-Obuasi-Dunkwa road to beef up the highway patrol team. The security personnel mounted a snap check point between Anwia-Nkwanta and Obuasi and at about 1900 hours a black Mousso Ssangyong vehicle, with Gado behind the wheels, arrived at the check point.

The Deputy Police Commander said when he was signalled to stop, he refused and ran the car over the crash barrier and attempted to hit one of the policemen on duty. They gave the robbers a hot chase towards Obuasi but the suspects managed to outpace the police. However, people in the neighbourhood directed the patrol team to the direction the suspects took and caught up with them at the outskirts of Akrokeri.

ACP Duku said as the patrol team was closing on them, Gado and his group opened fire, hitting the lead patrol vehicle with registration number GP 2370 on the driver's side door. The bullet penetrated the back wind shield and shattered it. At this point, the team returned fire, wounding Gado, who died shortly afterwards.

His three accomplices however managed to escape into a nearby bush under the hail of gun fire. ACP Duku appealed to the medical facilities to alert the police of people who report with gun wounds for treatment.