Armed Robbery in Aflao in the Volta Region is taking a more sophisticated form as robbers in the area have devised new techniques and strategies in looting the property of their victims. The latest person to fall victim to this canker is a deputy Minister of Finance and Economic Planning, Fifi Kwetey whose campaign office in the town, which operated under the guise of ‘Friends of Hon. Fiifi Kwetey’ has been raided.

The office is believed to be the campaign base of the Deputy Finance Minister who has expressed interest in the Ketu South parliamentary seat, currently occupied by Albert Zigah. Zigah has been complaining about the use of cash by his challenger, the deputy Finance Minister, to apparently win votes in the next elections.

The rear walls of the office building was perforated by the armed robbers who made away with items worth over GH¢6,000. The items included two laptops, a monitor, a speaker, a digital recorder, a memory card and an external hard disk drive.

The robbery is said to have triggered the invitation of the dreaded Nogokpo shrine to the area with the beating of gong-gong to warn the thieves to return any stolen items.

This robbery was styled after the infamous greatest bank robbery which occurred in Brazil somewhere in 2005, when the robbers dug a tunnel through an entire town into the vault of the Central Bank of Brazil in Fortaleza.

According to Chester Ben Ati, Communications Director of Fiifi Kwetey’s Aflao office, two other offices in the same building were also robbed while an attempt was made on one other office.The two were Season Travel and Tours and Able Link Communications, operators of the Airtel 2i Office in Aflao.

He could not tell what was stolen in the travel and tour office but revealed that an amount of about GH¢60,000 was alleged to have been stolen at the telecom office. He said the items include recharge cards, mobile phones and an unspecified amount stolen from a safe in the office.

The last office which could have made the robbers even wealthier was the Unity Rural Bank which was saved by the bell. Mr. Ati said after robbing the first three offices, the robbers started perforating the walls of the bank when the policeman on duty in front of the bank heard a suspicious noise.

He traced the noise to the back of the building, but before he could apprehend the robbers, they fled the scene, leaving behind a hacksaw, a car jerk and a crow bar.

Mr. Ati noted that the police have been notified.

A police source who confirmed the incident to Daily Guide disclosed that no arrests have been made yet, however investigations are still ongoing to curb the menace in the area.

Meanwhile, a few days, later a gong-gong beater from Nogokpo Shrine, one of the fearsome and powerful shrines in the Volta region, startled residence in Aflao when he warned perpetrators of the theft to return the items they stole in 14 days, otherwise they would face some dire consequences. According to eyewitnesses, the gong-gong beater, who gave the warning near Fifi Kwetey’s office, did not specify who was robbed.

Residents in the area have linked the beating of the gong-gong to the robbery at the office which accommodates the ‘Friends of Hon. Fiifi Kwetey’ and the three other offices attacked.

However, Chester Ben Ati said the group was vigorously preparing the grounds for Fifi Kwetey to unseat Albert Zigah but denied the allegations that the group or its boss was behind the beating of the gong-gong.

He added that “even though Fifi Kwetey is from Nogokpo, he will not resort to a fetish shrine for any reason because he is a Christian. Also none of us, his supporters will indulge in juju, let alone support such acts.”

Representatives of the other shops that were attacked also told Daily Guide that they had not consulted Nogokpo in anyway and so the gong-gong beating was merely coincidental.

Meanwhile, the ultimatum given by the Nagokpo shrine has passed, but no bizarre or mysterious incidents have been recorded in the area. There has also not been any news as to whether some confessions have been made or stolen items returned to anyone in the area.