Accra, Jan. 13, GNA - The Police on Tuesday mounted a search for a three-man gang which robs members of the public of their vehicles at gun point in the Greater Accra Region. The gang targets vehicles such Toyota Rav 4 and VW Touareg. Police have therefore urged members of the public to be careful of suspicious characters loitering in their vicinity, offering of "lift" to people they do not know and picking of passengers at night from spots to unknown places.

Speaking at a press briefing on the crime rate in the Region, Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) Mr Bright Oduro, Deputy Director of the Greater Accra Region Police car, said car-jacking was a serious problem. According him 131 cases of car-jacking were recorded in the region during 2008, just slightly down from 146 in 2007 146. ACP Bright Oduro said on Monday, January 12, a VW Touareg with registration number GW 7789 Z was snatched from its owner by three armed men at Adenta in Accra.

He said the complainant, Mr Alex Omar, was on his way to Adenta Estates when he received a call on his cell phone at about 2000 hours. ACP Oduro said Mr Omar parked the car to listen to the call when three armed men seized the vehicle from him, ordered him to sit in it and they drove him to the University Farms at Maajor. The robbers then pushed him out of the vehicle and drove it towards the Volta Region when it failed to move on reaching Aboasa, near Juapong, in the Eastern Region, because of its unique devices. The robbers, Mr Oduro said, therefore abandoned the vehicle. Later the complainant received a call from one of the robbers that they had abandoned the vehicle at Aboasa. ACP said no arrest has so far been made.

The Deputy Regional Commander recalled that on December 9, 2008 another black VW Touareg with registration number GC 2138 Z was stolen from the home of Madam Joyce Boateng at Community 18 in Tema. ACP Oduro said the robbers raided the house asked for the keys of the vehicle and later shot her in the leg. The car has since not been traced. ACP Oduro said the Police suspected it was the same syndicate operating in the metropolis. 13 Jan. 09