Dismissed Police, Military Officers Arrested….For dressing in uniforms to rob bank customers using tasers and handcuffs

 

A dismissed soldier and policeman, as well as a trader, have been remanded into lawful custody for allegedly accosting and robbing customers of financial institutions, particularly those who had gone to withdraw huge sums of monies.

Isaac Amejor and Michael Baffour, alias Mike, were dismissed from the Ghana Army Forces and Ghana Police Service respectively. Muntakilu Saddick, who used to be a trader at Kantamanto in Accra, abandoned his business to form a syndicate with the dismissed personnel of the two state security agencies.

The accused persons are being tried by an Accra Circuit Court in two different cases, all of which involved conspiracy to commit a crime, namely robbery, and robbery.

The other charges were restriction on use of military uniforms and equipment, and impersonation to commit crime, namely robbery.

Amejor, Baffour and Muntakilu have all pleaded not guilty to the charges and were remanded in both cases by the court, presided over by Her Honour Evelyn Asamoah, last week Friday, March 28, 2023.

Isaac Amejor and Michael Baffour, alias Mike, were expelled from the security agencies in 2014.

Michael resides at Ngleshie Amanfrom, Isaac lives at Kasoa, and Muntakilu Asamankese in the Eastern Region.

They allegedly robbed their victims at Ashaley-Botwe School Junction and Dansoman, all suburb of Accra, between March 2 and 22 this year.

Narrating the first leg of the case to the court, the prosecuting officer, DSP Evans Kesse, said the trio, after becoming friends, decided to form a syndicate that would constantly engage in robbery activities, targeted at innocent citizens and other persons who visited various financial institutions to transact business, especially withdrawals.

He added that as part of their scheme, they hired taxis to take them around to monitor the clients who patronise various banks, and after identifying a potential victim, would launch their attack.

They achieved this with Muntakilu Saddick, who posed as a detective wearing mufti, entered banking halls to monitor the activities, and would then communicate the physical identity of their potential victim to his accomplices, who had strategically position themselves.

Isaac Amejor, in full police apparel, would get down from the taxi and inform their victim that he or she was under arrest.

Michael Baffour, also dressed in an army uniform, would join Isaac to effect the arrest of the victim and force the person into the hired taxi cab to create the impression that they were, indeed, employees of the Ghana Police Service and Ghana Army.

They would then order the driver to move and follow their direction.

DSP Kesse said with this modus operandi, the accused persons robbed several people off the monies in their possession, and pushed them out of the car along the way, after which they shared the booty.

Deployment of the robbery scheme

Establishing the underpinning of how the charged people worked, the investigator demonstrated that on Wednesday, Walk 22, they met at Kasoa tollgate and recruited a taxi to pass them on to Dansoman to connect with burglaries on clients of designated monetary organizations.

The charged people began evaluating different banks from Bortianor with the plan of risking upon forthcoming casualties to send off their targets.

The triplet ended up in and in the vicinity of one of the banks in Dansoman for their plan, and at last chose looting a casualty, Priscilla Quansah, a portable cash merchant who went to the expressed bank at Sahara-Dansoman to pull out cash.

Muntakilu Saddick masked himself and entered the financial lobby to keep an eye on likely casualties. An amazing miracle, he detected the versatile cash seller, who had removed cash in the amount of GH¢4,000.00 from the vendor cell phone she was utilizing to work.

Saddick immediately called his accessories, who were in a taxi stopped on a road close to the bank, and depicted the casualty’s clothing and highlights to them.

He immediately moved out and joined his assistants. Isaac Amejor emerged from the vehicle and halted the person in question, who was en route to her business community, and illuminated her that she had been accounted for to them by her boss for taking part in an unknown wrongdoing, thus, she was set to be locked up.

Isaac constrained Priscilla into the rearward sitting arrangement of the vehicle, where she sat between the denounced people in police and military outfits separately.

Michael promptly tried to know the amount she pulled out, and the casualty referenced GH¢4,000.00.

The charged people requested the driver to move the vehicle and he went about as educated. Michael Baffour educated the driver on the courses to use until they got to the entry of a house where he was requested to stop the vehicle.

Michael got down and requested the casualty to leave her sack containing the cash, along with an underlying measure of GH¢950.00 and two PDAs in her women pack, to empower him lead her to their chief, one Mr. Appiah, in the house where the vehicle had halted.

The casualty attempted to oppose yet was constrained out of the vehicle and the pack effectively grabbed from her hand and kept in the vehicle, while Michael purportedly drove her into the house.

Michael Baffour immediately deserted the person in question and runed back to join the others in the vehicle, and requested the driver to hurry off. The three burglars paid the driver GH¢410.00 and shared the remainder of the cash.

Mutakilu Saddick was given the android wireless of the casualty as it was his chance to have it, since his accessories had profited from past telephones acknowledged from their burglary undertakings.

The blamed people gathered the contact number for the driver and guaranteed him that they would continuously work with him.

Mutakilu Saddick called the driver on Thursday, 23 Walk, 2023, to pass them on to Tema, where they had intended to expand their burglaries on clueless casualties they would risk upon at any monetary organization.

The examiner added that Isaac and Michael, to no one’s surprise, wearing their police and military clothing types, while their assistant, Mutakilu Saddick, wore mufti.

Notwithstanding, he said, the observation group of the Ghana Police Administration, which had prior picked knowledge on the exercises of the blamed people, had begun checking their development from the Kasoa tollgate region.

He said the police sought after them and ultimately secured them on a segment of the Accra-Tema Motorway, adding that the charged people were distinguished by a casualty prior to being summoned under the watchful eye of the court.

 

The other case

ASP Emmanuel Haliga further stated that the complainant was Shirley Asafo Agyei, a nurse.

According to him, on March 2, the complainant withdrew an amount of GH¢40,700.00 from a bank branch at Adjiriganor to be used for a housing project.

He told the court that the complainant after the transaction at the bank boarded a commercial vehicle heading towards Ashaley-Botwe School junction, and on reaching a section of the road near Ability Microfinance, the accused persons and another, at large, in a taxi crossed the commercial vehicle and dragged the complainant out.

ASP Haliga said then Isaac, who was in a police uniform, forced the complainant into their taxi and drove her to a spot near the University of Ghana Medical Centre.

When the complainant started shouting for help, the accused persons threatened to kill her if she did not keep quiet.

The complainant was then handcuffed, tasered, and her bag containing cash in the sum of GH¢40,700.00 and an iPhone 11 pro max valued at GH¢9,500.00 was seized.

The accused persons, after robbing the complainant, abandoned her in the bush handcuffed and sped off.

The complainant managed to find her way to the roadside where some coconut sellers around took her to the Legon Police Station, where she made an initial report and the handcuffs opened for her.

On March 14, 2023, the complainant petitioned the Director General of CID for assistance, and on March 26, the accused persons were arrested at their hideout on the Tema Motorway.

A search conducted on them revealed one military uniform and police uniform belonging to Michael and Isaac respectively.

ASP Haliga added that on April 14, an identification parade was conducted at the forecourt of the CID Headquarters, where the complainant identified the trio as the persons who robbed her.

He said the accused persons admitted in their caution statement in the presence of an independent witness that they robbed the complainant and shared the booty.

After investigations, the accused persons were charged and arraigned before the court.

 

Source: ghanaxpress.com