Three armed robbers have been sentenced to a total of 180 years by the Aflao Circuit Court, presided over by Mr Justice Francis Obiri. They were sentenced to five years imprisonment each for conspiracy and 60 years each for robbery, both sentences to run concurrently. The convicts - Kingsley John Okeke, alias Ken, a Nigerian; Harrison KomIa Efiatukpey, alias Opana, and Prosper Azaglo, alias Papa pleaded not guilty to all the charges. A fourth person, Victor Setorwufia, an auto technician at Denu, was acquitted and discharged for lack of evidence. The facts of the case were that Okeke, a trader, lived with Efiatukpey at Katanga, a suburb of Lome in Togo, while Azaglo lived at Low Cost in Aflao. The group hatched and executed a plot to rob a transport owner of GH¢9,800 and 4 million CFA on January 14, 2010. About 1 a.m. on that fateful day, the robbers hired a KIA bus to convey them and five others, now at large, from a designated point to the residence of the transport owner. Masked and armed with an AK47 rifle, knives and machetes, the robbers scaled the fence wall and held the transport owner hostage, while another group forced the door open with an iron bar to rob the victim of his money. After the robbery, the robbers beat their victim, inflicted knife injuries on him, tied his hands and fled. Investigations led to the arrest of Okeke and Efiatukpey in Togo and a cell phone identified by the victim as his was found on Efiatukpey. Further investigation led to the arrest of Azaglo. In Azaglo's house, a blood-stained machete, an iron cutter, a pair of hand gloves, a face mask, a vehicle number plate (GR 6435 Y) and a pair of military knickers were found in his room. An examination of their cell phones revealed that they knew one another and had actually communicated in connection with the crime. Source: Daily Graphic/Ghana