A 26-year-old man described by the police as a notorious robber has been arrested. Police said the suspect, identified as Yakubu Alidu alias Bullet, was also the leader of a 15-man gang linked to a series of robberies at Agbogbloshie in Accra.
The Accra Regional Police Commander, Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCOP) Osabarima Oware Asare Pinkro III, who briefed journalists in Accra yesterday, said Alidu was arrested together with one of his gang members identified as Mohammed Iddrissu, 20, during a dawn swoop last Thursday.
DCOP Pinkro said Alidu and his gang were notorious for terrorising traders and engaging in other violent crimes at Agbogbloshie and its environs.
He said other suspected criminals were also picked up during the swoop, which was aimed at ridding the Agbogbloshie area of criminals who used the area as a hideout.
Attacks
The regional police boss said the police mounted a search for Alidu and his men after a series of complaints from their victims.
Alidu is said to have attacked his victims with machetes and guns and inflicted wounds on them when they failed to comply with his orders to hand over their money and other valuables to the gang.
Incidents
On February 2, 2017, the police said they received a report from one of Alidu’s victims who had multiple machete wounds on his body.
The victim, a resident of Old Fadama, had told the police that at about 9 a.m. that day, he was putting up a makeshift structure at Kokomba, near the Agbogbloshie market, when a group of men came and demanded money from him, DCOP Pinkro said.
The victim claimed when he refused to give the money to the Alidu-led group, they attacked him with machetes and other offensive implements, severely injuring him and abandoning him to his fate.
Alidu and his men also attacked two traders on February 15, 2017 at the Kokomba market, near Agbogbloshie, on motorbikes, leaving one of their victims with machete wounds on the forehead, the police said.
On March 3, 2017, DCOP Pinkro said, Alidu and 10 of his gangmen attacked a drinking spot known as Konkonsah Drinking Bar and robbed its patrons.
The suspects who were wielding cutlasses, guns and other offensive weapons damaged a gambling machine at the drinking spot, stole unspecified amount of money and forcefully took the mobile phones of patrons.
The police later found bullet marks on the roofing of the drinking spot.
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