Police nab member of rapist robbery gang
A member of a gang of three, who allegedly robbed and raped some women at Nungua, in Accra, has been arrested by the police.
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The suspect, Benjamin Akwei, 23, is said to have been identified by eight women, including a policewoman, who claimed he had raped them after robbing them between February and March 2016.
The police have mounted a hunt for two of his accomplices, identified as Michael Appiah, alias ‘Not Nice’, and the other identified only as Anago Macho, a Nigerian.
Police receive complaints
Briefing the Daily Graphic, the Accra Regional Police Public Relations Officer, Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) Mrs Afia Tenge, said although crime in the Nungua community had reduced drastically following the arrest and conviction of four notorious robbers in October 2015, the police started recording cases of robbery and rape from early 2016.
She said in all the cases, the victims claimed they had been attacked by three men armed with machetes and other implements who also raped them.
According to her, the suspects usually made away with flat screen television sets, mobile phones and various sums of money.
Suspect identified
After studying a number of the complaints received, she said, the police, through their intelligence, started monitoring a number of young men who matched the descriptions provided by the victims.
On March 29, 2016, she said, Akwei, who was one of the men being monitored, was arrested after he had been identified by one of the victims near the Nungua Police Station.
A search conducted on him led to the retrieval of a quantity of dried leaves suspected to be Indian hemp from his pocket.
In the course of investigations, she said, the eight victims, including two bankers, a nurse and a policewoman, identified Akwei at separate identification parades as one of the robbers who had robbed and raped them.
During interrogation, Mrs Tenge said, Akwei admitted the offence and led the police to the houses of two of the victims where he enacted how the operations had been carried out.
Akwei is said to have also provided the names of his two accomplices but could not lead the police to arrest them.
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