About 968 robbery cases were recorded in the first quarter of 2018 across the country, that's according to the Director General at the Criminal Investigation Department of the Ghana Police Service, ACP Joseph Oklu Gyamera.

Out of the number, robbery took 484 cases, street robbery recorded 172, residential robbery 124 cases, workplace robbery recorded 95, while highway robbery recorded 49 cases.

Speaking at a press briefing last Thursday on the Police operations for the first quarter of 2018, ACP Gyamera said out of the 484 cases of robbery recorded from January to May 2018, the Greater Accra and Ashanti regions lead with 191 and 123 cases respectively, the highest.

Touching on street robbery, ACP Gyamera said Greater Accra and Ashanti regions recorded the highest number of 78 and 48 cases respectively, while Upper West recorded the least number of one case.

ACP Gyamera said out of the 124 cases of residential robberies, 30 were recorded in January, 22 in February, 24 in March, 25 in April and 23 in May, of which Greater Accra and Ashanti regions led with the highest number.

He said on the aggregate, 2018 recorded the highest number of robbery against the previous years over the same period of time, adding that from the regional point of view, it was clear that records of robbery was highly skewed towards Accra and Ashanti regions.

ACP Gyamera said it had been observed that the high record of robberies in recent times may be due to effective and efficient means of reporting crime by the adoption of contemporary and more efficient technology.

Touching on defilement, ACP Gyamera said a total of 82 cases were recorded in the first quarter of 2018, of which Accra had the highest number of 30 cases, followed by Eastern with 25, while five regions; Tema, Central, Volta, Northern and Upper West did not record any cases of defilement.

He said rape cases in the quarter recorded 41, with Eastern Region leading with 16, followed by Accra with 13, while Volta and Brong Ahafo recorded no cases.

On murder cases, ACP Gyamera said 129 cases were recorded, of which Ashanti Region led with 29, followed by Accra with 21, and Upper West and Northern regions having the least number of two.

However, 80 narcotic cases were recorded in the first quarter, where Accra and Ashanti led the number of regions with 19 apiece, while the Northern and the Upper West regions recorded no cases.

He posited that the slight increase in the 2018 figures was mainly due to the intermittent release of prisoners either due to lack of substantive evidence to prosecute them.

ACP Gyamera said the Police Service, as part of its proactive measures to combat crime, would establish a Crime Intelligence Unit in all the regions and would continue to ensure that the incidence of crime was brought to its lowest ebb.