The Police in Brong Ahafo have made a major headway in the combat against armed robbery following the arrest of five notorious Fulani herdsmen, including their spiritual mentor, believed to be behind the numerous highway robbery cases on the Yeji-Kintampo road. The five suspects, all of Fulani extractions, are Aliu Mallam Abubakar, 37; the spiritual leader of the group, Umaru Abubakar, 22, Mohammed Saliu, 26, Jayee Fulani, 35 and Umaru Bedu, 25. They were among a gang of about seven suspected highway robbers wearing masks and wielding guns and cutlasses who attacked travelling traders from Yeji to Wa on September 26 on the Yeji-Kintampo section of the road. The robbers were arrested by the inhabitants of the crime-prone area and later handed over to the police. This was after the police had directed the residents to mount roadblocks at various locations and dispatched search parties to pursue the suspected robbers a few hours after the incident had taken place around 7:00.p.m. The Brong Ahafo Regional Police Commander, DCOP Robert Ayalingo, at a press briefing on Friday, said the five Fulani men were all strangers in the area and had no business at the place at the time of their arrest which was deep in the night. He said the police had placed them in custody pending further investigations whilst his men had mounted a manhunt for the other accomplices who escaped. DCOP Ayalingo told journalists that the suspected Fulani highway robbers attacked a Benz bus with registration number GT 6286 C which was carrying 30 passengers to Wa after they had finished their trading activities at the Yeji Market. According to the regional police commander, the driver of the vehicle, Emmanuel Bazaawale, who was also the complainant, told the police that he set off from Yeji around 6:00.p.m and on reaching a spot between Yapare and Buom at about 7:00.p.m, a group of armed men numbering about seven, wearing masks and wielding guns and other offensive implements, stopped the vehicle. The police chief said the armed men robbed the driver and the passengers of their mobile phones and an unspecified amount of money and fled into the bush. He said information was quickly dispatched to the assemblyman and other opinion leaders of Yapare, Zabrama and Buom who mobilized residents to mount barriers and organize search parties to pursue the armed men. He said at about 12:30.a.m the next day, the people of Yapare succeeded in arresting suspect Umaru Abubakar who emerged from the bush near the crime scene and armed with a shotgun, a cutlass, a torch-light and talisman. On interrogation by the assemblyman of the area, Umaru confirmed having taken part in the robbery with six others. DCOP Ayalingo further mentioned that a few hours later, at about 4:30.a.m. the same day, residents of Buom also arrested suspect Aliu Mallam Abubakar, who admitted to being the spiritual mentor of the gang and Mohammed Saliu. The two were seen on separate motorbikes from the direction of the crime scene. Later on the same day, the people of Apesika also arrested suspects Jayee Fulani and Umaru Bedu on the outskirts of the town when they also emerged from the nearby bush with their dresses wet because it was raining during the robbery attack. A search on the two revealed two mobile phones, three mobile phone batteries, two wristwatches, one torch-light and an amount of GH¢220.