Armed robbers in the wee hours of Tuesday attacked two VIP buses on the outskirts of Suhum in the Eastern Region and shot a Chinese woman, Sun Jukowa. The robbers were alleged to have robbed a number of passengers on the buses of their valuables, including large sums of money. Both buses were travelling from Kumasi to Accra when the robbers struck at Appeatu, a small village near Suhum Girls Islamic Senior High School, at about 3:00a.m. One of the drivers of the buses with registration numbers GE 2393-10 and GS 4058-11, which were attacked, Nelson Agyapong, Tuesday told Oman FM that the robbers who were hiding in the bush started spraying the buses with bullets as his bus got to the bad portion of the Kumasi-Accra highway road on the outskirts of Suhum so slowed down. According to the driver, with the spraying of bullets, he had no choice but to stop as a number of passengers who were asleep were awakened by the sounds of the bullets, adding that the Chinese woman who was on the bus was hit in the hand and on the neck by some of the bullets. According to him, the robbers, four in number, with two of them masked, ordered the passengers to get down as soon as he stopped and started robbing them of their valuables. He said the driver of another VIP bus, which was following his, thought they had had a problem so he also stopped but the robbers attacked them as well. Confirming the robbery to Daily Guide on Tuesday, the regional police commander, ACP Kwabena Gyamera Yeboah, said it was true that a Chinese woman, Sun Jukowa, aged 58, was indeed shot by one of the robbers and was rushed to the Suhum Government Hospital by members of police highway patrol team which went to the scene, adding that the victim was responding to treatment. He also confirmed the names of the drivers of the VIP buses as Nelson Agyapong and Charles Acheampong but denied that most of them were robbed because the police patrol team got to the robbery scene in time, forcing the armed robbers to flee into the bush. “Our police patrol team from Kyebi and Suhum heard of the gunshots and rush to the scene and immediately it got there, the robbers ran into the bush and members of the team had to shoot into the bush in case they could be hiding while the victims were assisted to get to their destination,” he said. He stressed that it was only confirmed that a mobile phone of the Chinese woman was the item taken away from the passengers. The regional commander said part of the blame on recent highway robberies should be put at the doorsteps of owners of the buses and the drivers because the Police Administration had given a directive that long-distance buses especially those travelling at night, should have two armed policemen on each bus to help ‘repel’ such unfortunate attacks. He explained that the owners of the buses as well as the drivers were not complying because they felt the two seats that would be allocated to the policemen would affect their sales. “We want owners of the long-distance buses and their drivers to help us so that we can also help them and protect innocent Ghanaians,” he indicated. The regional commander told Daily Guide that the regional police command would increase patrol and snap checks on the Suhum-Nsawam portion of the Accra-Kumasi highway to help check robbery as Christmas approached. “We want owners of long distance envisage that there would be a rise in the cases of armed robberies and police in the region are poised to face such challenges he noted.