Thirteen West African nationals, including a Ghanaian, have been arrested by the police in a special swoop in Nkawkaw for their involvement in an alleged armed robbery on the Accra-Kumasi highway. The police also seized a locally manufactured pistol and a half sack of dried leaves suspected to be Indian hemp from the suspected armed robbers at Nkawkaw Zongo at about 6:00a.m last Thursday. The suspects include three Beninois, whose names were given as Manu Bube; 27, Omaru Abubakari; 26, and Abubakari Adamu, 35, and four Nigeriens identified as Bube Aliu; 25, Sagu Osamnu; 30, Osamnu Tibrila; 43, and Shaibu Issifu; 35. The others were named as Muhamadu Belo; 27, Mahamadu Thiaji; 33, Famba Thiaji; 27, and Ali Mohammed; 27, all Nigerians; Bube Boli, a 27-year-old Burkinabe, and Ali Thiki, a 72-year-old Ghanaian. The operation followed a highway robbery at Asona near Nkawkaw, during which a gang of armed robbers strategically positioned themselves near a pothole on the Kumasi-Accra highway and stopped a number of vehicles to rob the passengers. They were reported to have fired shots through the front and back windscreens of a Yutong bus, with registration number GE 5071 Z, injuring Kofi Owusu, a passenger. That was when Mr. Bernard Yeboah, the driver of the bus which was travelling from Accra to Kumasi, refused to top. Owusu, who was shot in the right shoulder, was rushed to the Holy Family Hospital in Nkawkaw for treatment. According to the Eastern Regional Police Commander, Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) Mr. K. Gyamerah- Yeboah, the Police received a report about 2:30 a.m. last Thursday that a gang of armed robbers had fired into a Yutong bus at Asona and that the robbers were about to rob the passengers. He said before a team of armed policemen could reach the scene; the armed robbers had become suspicious of Police presence and run into a nearby bush. He said during interrogations, some of the passengers told the Police that the armed robbers were of Fulani origin and, based on that information, the police organised a swoop at Nkawkaw Zongo about 6:00a.m. on the same day and arrested the suspects. Meanwhile, the suspects have been remanded in custody by the Nkawkaw Magistrate Court to appear again on June 6. The Regional Police Commander appealed to all the victims of the robbery to report at the Nkawkaw Divisional Police Headquarters to identify the 13 suspects at an identification parade to be held soon. Source: Daily Graphic