The Enchi District Magistrate Court has granted a GH¢200,000 bail sum to four men facing charges of conspiracy, attempted to commit crime and abetment of crime.

The accused persons are Solomon Obour Mensah, 36, David Abankwa, 32, Stephen Awinguda, 26, and Collins Gyan, 31.

They are miners and a driver residing at Samreboi in the Wassa Amenfi West Municipality.

Their pleas have not been taken, and they are expected to return to court on April 28, 2025.

Prosecuting, Police Detective Chief Inspector Joseph Kwadwo Agyare, told the court presided over by Mr Lawrence Buanor-Buer that, on March 2, 2025, at about 10:20 pm, the Enchi District Police Command was informed that the accused persons were planning to rob a gold mining site at Sefwi Akora near Enchi.

He said based on the tip-off, on March 3, 2025, a team of police officers were deployed to the location where they laid an ambush and coordinated with the mining company’s security personnel.

The prosecutor said at about 11:00 am, the security men noticed Abankwa and Awinguda were lingering around the area, interrogated them, but their explanation was not convincing, so they apprehended them.

He said about 20 minutes later, Detective Chief Inspector Agyare said the police heard gunshots and swiftly advanced towards the area observed that it was a gun fire exchange between the security men at the mining site and the armed robbers of which Mensah and his accomplices, who are currently at large were hiding in the bush.

Detective Chief Inspector Agyare said that when the police arrived, the robbers opened fire, and the police responded, but the robbers escaped, and after that, the police found a Tecno mobile phone at the scene, with Mensah’s photograph and a female as the screensaver.

He said that while in custody, Abankwa confessed that Gyan was the one who sent him.

On the same day, around 1920 hours, police received a tip from Samreboi that Mensah had sought medical treatment for gunshot wounds at the Sarmatex hospital, the prosecutor said

Detective Chief Inspector Agyare added that Mensah was escorted to Enchi by the police, and at the scene, investigators found a pump-action gun, believed to have been used by Mensah, which was loaded with three BB cartridges and it was retrieved.