Residents in the Ho Municipality and its environs have been forced to close their businesses and retire to bed early for fear of their abodes being burgled or they themselves being attacked by armed robbers.

The once bubbly and vibrant municipality is gradually becoming a pale shadow of itself as residents live in fear and panic.

In recent times the residents have come under armed robbery attacks which had led to the butchering of a resident and shooting of a police constable.

So far, over a dozen incidents have occurred in less than two weeks, but the police are yet to make any major arrests.

Police have increased patrols and personnel, provided tent cities and increased their visibility programme, yet the criminals are said to been gaining grounds.

A few disturbing cases

A fortnight ago, a police constable on patrol duty was shot in the head when a suspected robbery incident was in progress at a filling station around the main lorry park.

The con­stable, who is said to be recovering from the gun­shot wounds after being discharged from the Volta Regional Hospital, was following a tip-off about a robbery attack on Right Aid Pharmacy located in the area.

In another incident, one Rev. Amedzro was also robbed at gun point.

A divisional chief of Ho, Togbe Anikpi, also had his home broken into. Another victim was also inflicted with cutlass wounds after he was robbed around the RTC area, near the market branch of the Ghana Commercial Bank.

A cold store operator was also robbed of over GHȻ8,000.00 at gun point. Again, a popular food vendor in the municipality, Araba Special Rice, was also robbed under similar circumstances.

United against robbers

The situation has infuriated the residents, particularly the youth, who have vowed to team up with the police to flash those suspected robbers out. The police have also intensified patrols, especially at night.

Police scatter robbers den

Fortunately for the municipality, the police have conducted some unannounced swoops which were beginning to yield some results. The recent one led to an identification exercise last Thurs­day where 14 suspected criminals were paraded.

At the end of the parade, six out of ten brave victims identified one Agbanyo Michael alias Obina, 27. Other suspects who were identified included Prince Kofi Eworyi, 23; Anthony Yenkyera, 34; Happy Gawu, 22 and 24-year-old Frank Akwesu alias Picture.