Five armed robbers, suspected to have robbed the Madina ECOBANK two years ago have been arrested by the police. The five, according to the police was the same gang that attacked a bullion van at Lashibi on the Spintex road on October 12 and in the process shot and killed the police guard of the van. They also took away his AK 47 rifle. The suspects, Ibrahim Sulemnana, 26; Kingsley Labone, 24, Kofi Afoakwa 26; Kennedy Afoakwa, 27 and Isaac Oppong, 27, were arrested in separate operations on Saturday and Sunday. Two other suspects whose names were given as Dotse Babanawo alias Benin Boy and Dropam, both in their 30s were killed in an exchange of fire with the police. At a news briefing in Accra yesterday, the Accra Regional Police Commander, Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCOP) Rose Bio Atinga said in the first robbery on October 10, at about 10:00 am, the group attacked a fuel filling station at Kumasi and snatched AK 47 rifle from the policeman on guard duty. Two days later, the group extended their operation to Tema where they seized a Pickup from a security man. According to the Regional Commander the following morning, the group attempted to rob a bullion van on Spintex road and killed Lance Corporal Samuel Antwi, who was guarding the van and took away his AK 47. On October 27, she said the same gang went to Antis Company Limited which deals in building materials at Agbogba in Accra and attacked Trust Bank officials who were there to collect money from the company. Again the gang, snatched the AK 47 assault rifle of a policeman, but another policeman who was on the van shot one of the robbers compelling the rest to flee. Madam Atinga said at about 3pm on November 2, following a tip off, police went to a house at Agboba where the suspects were hiding, retrieved an AK 47 rifle, and a magazine with eight rounds of ammunition. The rifle was found to be the same that the robbers snatched from a policeman in the Kumasi attack. DCOP Atinga said on November 5, at about 4:00pm, Police arrested two people, Leonard Shikabli and his brother, Antonio Shikabli whose assistance led to the arrest of two brothers Kofi Afoakwa, and Yaw Afoakwa, both on the police wanted list. The two brothers mentioned the names of other group members including Isaac Oppong, a driver at Ashaiman who drives the group during their operations. Oppong led police to the Nungua resident of Benin Boy, but he was absent but was traced to Coco Beach Resort at Nungua and on seeing the police, he opened fire and the police fired back killing him instantly. On October 7, the police commander said they had a tip off that one of the suspects called Addis Ababa, had sent for an AK 47 from Dotse Babanawo at Denu. Police tried to arrest him while Babanawo was handing over the rifle to him but according to the police commander, Addis Ababa, fired at the police who retaliated and killed him. DCOP Atinga said the group admitted their roles in a number of bank robberies including the Madina ECOBANK Forex Bureau and bullion vans. Source: Times/Ghana