The President of the Institute of Security Disaster and Emergency Studies, Dr. Ishmael Norman, has called for an independent Commission of Inquiry into the killing of two key suspects in the ongoing police investigation into the bullion van heists.

The two suspects, Constable Reindolph Gyimah Ansah and Corporal Stephen Kwaku Nyame, were shot dead during a gunfight between police officers and the criminal gang involved in the bullion van heists at Borteyman in Ashaiman.

Speaking on JoyNews’ PM Express on Wednesday, Dr. Norman said it was rather suspicious that following a shootout as the Police had recounted, it was only the two key suspects that had sustained gunshot wounds and died.

According to him, this looks like something more nefarious is at play to hide the real kingpins or the major benefactors of criminal activities within the Police Service.

“It just doesn’t make sense, no matter how hard you try to be charitable to the police, it just doesn’t make sense.

“So it was incredulous to say the least that the two essential people got killed, nobody else got killed. Where do we go from here? The questions that flow from there is what did they know and who did they know information about that was damning to those people?” he said.

He has, therefore, called for the establishment of an independent Commission of inquiry to dig into the criminal cells within the Police force.

“If they were killed, if they were murdered, who gave the order? We need to have a commission of inquiry. Not only about the killing of the two suspects, but we also need to have a commission of inquiry to dig into criminal cells within the police force.

“Dr. Dampare has always said he’s going to rid Ghana of criminals and the way he talks it’s as if the problem is not within the police, it is the civilians who are enemies of the state and now we realize that the true enemies of the state are the policemen themselves. Not all of them. So we need to see how deep the corruption in the police is and who are the principles who stand to benefit and so on and so forth,” he said.

He added that “I will like to know the money that was taken from all the banks and who got what and how much? Because there are too many unanswered questions and until the evidence is made very clear the Ghana Police is going to have a much bigger image problem to manage.

“Until you can explain beyond the reasonable doubt why those two important witnesses, persons of interest or probably suspects were shot down so that whatever they knew, I don’t know if there was any interview, whether their statements were taken from them, whether they were interrogated, I have no idea. So we need to know.

“I know they’re doing investigation and there’s not a lot they can tell us now but we need to know what the Police knows from those two men and why let them accompany them.”

He's hopeful that should the Commission of Inquiry take place, other criminal cells within the Police Service will be discovered and eradicated.

"I think if you do that in camera, a lot of people will come forward because if this cell has been broken, there are other cells within the police.

"These young men didn’t just get up and go do what they did, they were being controlled, they were just Manchurian candidates, they were told what to do and they’ll go and do it, they get a portion and the bulk of the money goes. It’s a mafia style of operation. There are other cells in the Ghana Police we need to get to the bottom of it," he said.