Two arrested for recruiting robbers

Accra, Oct. 6, GNA - The Accra Regional Police Command has nabbed two men, who conspired to recruit armed robbers to rob a company they both worked for at Akim Oda in the Eastern Region. Emmanuel Koomson and Jacob Kwesi Siaw, are the Marketing and Sales Managers respectively of the Naatoa Company Limited, retailers of MTN products and services, which they intended to rob. Deputy Commissioner of Police Rose Bio Atinga (DCOP), Greater Accra Regional Police Commander, confirmed the story to Journalists in Accra on Wednesday.

She said that the Police on September 30 received information that some workers of Naatoa/MTN office at Akim Oda had come to Accra to recruit armed robbers to rob their company. DCOP Atinga said Siaw upon arrival in Accra initially recruited two people and gave them GH¢900 as deposit, which was to be used to hire a vehicle and weapons for the operation. She said Siaw also drew a sketch of the plan of the office indicating where the company's money was being kept. The Regional Commander said the two, who feigned interest in the operation, later informed the Police who dispatched detectives with the supposed robbers to Oda. She said the detectives, who posed as robbers, were met at the outskirts of the town by one Lord Appiah Frimpong, the Customer Care Officer of the company, who sent them to the office. DCOP Atinga said Koomson and Siaw on seeing the "robbers" at the office raised their hands and pointed to the company's safe thinking the detectives were the armed robbers whom they had recruited. She said the detectives took the money from the safe and other sums of money amounting to GH¢42,700 from the office which the culprits pointed to them, after which they were arrested. The Police also impounded a Kia Picanto car with registration number GT 7661 Z belonging to the company, which the "robbers" were to use to make their escape. DCOP Atinga said upon interrogation, the two suspects claimed that they had made losses in their sales and thus wanted to cover those shortages with proceeds from the robbery. Koomson and Siaw had negotiated to give the robbers GH¢10,000 from the proceeds of the robbery and had provided tapes for the "robbers" to tie them up after the operation to make it look convincing. Lord Frimpong, the third accomplice in the crime, is on admission at an undisclosed hospital. The Regional Commander appealed to companies and individuals to be security conscious and not to trust all their workers. Koomson and Siaw would soon be arraigned.