A 27-year-old suspect, Stephen Quarshie, a member of a gang of armed robbers specialised in robbing filling stations and big shops within Accra and Tema, has been grabbed by the Amansaman District Police Command.
The suspect, variously called Fowaz Mahmoud or Fofo or Bossing, was arrested at Kuntunse near Amansaman upon a tip-off.
A Gucci pump action gun which loads up to six rounds of ammunition, concealed in a black backpack inside the room of the suspect, was also retrieved.
Patrick Timbillah, the Accra Regional Police Commander, told journalists that Stephen Quarshie and his gang, since June 2011, had been captured on a number of CCTV cameras at filling stations and shops that they attacked, and had since been on the police wanted list for some time now.
Their mode of operation was to attack filling stations and big shops around 1 to 3pm when it was believed that the shops might have made substantial sales.
On June 8, 2012, the suspect and his group attacked a Shell filling station at Amasaman around 2pm and robbed the station of huge sums of money.
Police moved to the scene but the robbers managed to escape on a motorbike.
They were three in number, with suspect Quarshie wielding a gun.
Police at that time could not open fire on suspects because of customers and vehicles moving on the road by that time.
An intelligence body was set up by the Amasaman police to track down the suspects who were believed to be hiding in the area.
On July 4, 2012, Stephen Quarshie was arrested at Kuntunse near Sapeiman, Amasaman and a search conducted revealed his Gucci pump action gun concealed in a black bag.
Upon interrogation, the suspect confessed that he purchased the gun from Libya to use.
Among the robbery operations which he allegedly undertook and was captured on the cameras, was one at a Shell filling station on June 8, 2012 at Kpobiman where an amount of GH¢4,000 was robbed.
Antis shop at Haatso in February this year was robbed and an Amasaman resident’s bag containing GH¢20,000 was snatched.
Further investigations by the police revealed that the suspect was an ex-convict who served about three-and-half years at the Nsawam Medium Security Prisons for snatching a vehicle from its owner.
Police investigations continue.