Policeman guarding Standchart interdicted

The Police Administration on Thursday interdicted the constable who was on guard duty at the Spintex Road Branch of Standard Chartered Bank where a lone robber looted the vault of foreign currency.

The robbery took place in broad daylight on Wednesday while the police guard was absent from duty.

Sources at the Tema Regional Police told the Ghana News Agency on Thursday that the constable was being sanctioned for leaving his post without proper permission.

The source said even though he obtained permission from the bank officials, "he should have sought permission from his district commander for him to arrange for a replacement."

Another source at the Police headquarters said the interdiction was without prejudice to any subsequent criminal findings that investigations may reveal.

The robber on Wednesday stormed the bank, held the staff at gunpoint and made away with 5,720 pounds sterling, 7,124 dollars and 247,750 cedis.

The man, said to be dark in complexion and heavily built, arrived at the bank in a taxi and paid the driver off.

When he got out of the taxi, he put on a cap and on entering the bank, he turned the cap into a hood.

He took out a gun and held hostage, Mr Ebenezer Kissi Adu, an official of the bank. He ordered everybody to lie on the floor.

The robber asked for the foreign exchange desk where he took all the money in the case and ordered Mr Adu to surrender his Opel Kaddet Saloon car key, which he drove away.

The source said the robber abandoned the hijacked car at the Johnson Wax Junction, where he took his own car, which he had parked there.