Five suspected armed robbers have been shot dead by the police in Accra.

The five were hit in a crossfire with the police in the early hours of Thursday on the Accra-Tema Motorway.

Accra Regional Commander of the Ghana Police, DCOP George Alexander Mensah, explains that the police had initially engaged the suspects non-violently.

“The team tried to get the vehicles to pull over but the suspects, seeing the police, started firing indiscriminately into the police surveillance car narrowly missing the policemen on board. The [police] team was then reinforced and engaged the suspects in the shootout,” he said.

He reveals that the police got a tip about the operations of the robbers around 01:30 am Thursday and that helped in their stopping them.

He tells Joy News that the robbers numbering about 15 were using a sprinter bus and a Toyota Corolla both of which have been impounded by the police.

There was a third car; a taxi whose registration number is unknown, he said.

Some items retrieved by the police include the Toyota Corolla, the sprinter bus, a mobile phone, talisman and some firearms.

DCOP Mensah also said the police strongly suspects that these suspects are strongly linked to the Adenta and Forex bureau robberies.

DCOP Alexander Mensah

Public Relations Officer of the Greater-Accra Regional Police, ASP Afia Tenge, says the police are hunting the remaining 10.

“…we are combing the metropolis for them,” ASP Tenge told Gifty Andoh, host of The Pulse programme on the Joy News channel Thursday.

Four of the five deceased suspects have been identified as Habib, Paa, Baby Jet and Birdman. 

The police have urged hospitals and other medical establishments to be on the look-out for persons who come to their institutions with gunshot wounds or suspicious injuries.

The public is also to be on the look-out for such persons.