Two employees of Sankofa Gold Mines and a gold dealer who masterminded a gold robbery at the Sankofa Gold Mines at Prestea have been sentenced to a total of 180 years imprisonment in hard labour (IHL). The convicts are Stephen Adom, plant operator and Francis Cobbah, CIL operator, both employees and Yussif Amudah, a gold dealer. Cobbah and Amuda were charged with.conspiracy to commit crime and robbery and sentenced to 60years JHL on each count. The sentences are to run concurrently, Stephen Adom was sentenced to 60 years for conspiracy but was acquitted on the charge of robbery. The three had earlier on October 23, last year pleaded not guilty when they appeared before the Tarkwa Circuit Court presided over by Mr. Obeng Diawno. Presenting the facts, Deputy Superintendent 0 Police (DSP) D.K. Adiita, told the court that on October 20, 2009, the three men attacked the, Sankofa Gold Mines and stole a gold bar weighing 9.413 kilogrammes valued at $276,722.90. He said the company normally processed its gold ore into bars on Tuesdays and stored them in a room after they had been weighed, sampled and sealed by the Customs, Excise and Preventive officials. DSP Adiita said on September last year, the gang met at Cobbina's room at Prestea, and plotted-to steal the.gold bars. They rented a gun from a friend of Amuda who resides in Kumasi at a fee of GH¢1,000 for the operation. The prosecutor told the court further that; the gun was kept in Cobbar's room and the three kept on communicating on their mobile phones on plans and strategic until they struck on October 20, 2009. He said that Cobbah and Amuda, who took strategic positions near the company, covered their faces with masks and as the gold was being re­ moved from the plant manager's office by Stephen to the gold room, they fired two shots at the escort who quickly abandoned the gold and fled. The two, DSP Adiita said, took the gold bar and fled. He said the two convicts quickly went to Gambia, a suburb of Prestea, and using a hacksaw blade, cut the gold bar into two and hid it in the ceiling of Amuda’s mother's room at Mankessim, also a suburb of Prestea. The court after the judgment ordered the company, to keep the proceeds from the sale of the gold and commended the police for their swift response in the recovery of the gold. Source: The Ghanaian Times