Four suspected armed robbers have been arrested in connection with a robbery at Wassa Asikuma on the Bogoso-Kumasi highway on Monday. The suspects - John Gyesi, alias Kwaku Ackon; 33, Evans Attah; 34, Samuel Larbi; 38, and Collins Anyam, alias Joe, a taxi driver - are under police guard at the Wassa Akropong Government Hospital. The four were said to have robbed passengers who were travelling on the Bogoso-Kumasi road, but were arrested by the Wassa Asikuma community, and subjected to beatings before being handed over to the police. They were later detained at the Wassa Akropong Hospital. A fifth suspect, Paa Yaw, 28, died later at the hospital. The Western Regional Police Commander (DCOP), Ransford Moses Ninson, told the Ghanaian Times newspaper on Wednesday that at about 3am on August 1, the police had information that six robbers armed with guns and cutlasses had intercepted Kumasi-bound vehicles at Asikuma on the Bogoso road. He said the suspects robbed the passengers who were on Mercedes Benz buses with the registration number AS 2284 X and GT 577710 driven by Anthony Essuman and Bernard Appiah, respectively. DCOP Ninson said it was alleged that Anyam, the driver of KIA Pride taxi cab with registration number AS 4695 11, was later conveying the suspected armed robbers from Wassa Akropong towards Bogoso when the Wassa Asikuma community saw them and subjected them to severe beatings. “When the police proceeded to the scene, they met three of the suspected robbers lying on the road with multiple injuries,” he said. He said that Larbi, Gyesi, Attah, Papa Yaw and Anyam, the taxi driver, and driver, Essuman, were sent to the Wassa Akropong Government Hospital, but Yaw was later pronounced dead. Meanwhile, the police commander said the KIA Pride taxi cab had been impounded while investigations continue. “The suspects are still under intensive care and have not spoken yet,” DCOP Ninson told the Ghanaian Times, saying “we have intensified patrols on all the highways”. Source: The Ghanaian Times/Ghana