9 Robbers Shot Dead making it 20 so far

SHOT! Awudu Karim THE ASHANTI Regional Police, over the weekend, shot to death a notorious criminal known as Awudu Karim, increasing to nine, the number of suspected hoodlums killed in the region by the law enforcement agents within five days. In a Hollywood fashion, the police, last Monday evening, shot to death eight suspected highway robbers believed to be of Fulani extraction on the Anwia Nkwanta to Bekwai road after a prolonged fierce gun-battle between the gangs and the law enforcement agents. In the latest incident, Awudu, believed to be in his late 20s, was gunned down by a police officer last Saturday evening at Akwatia-line around the Tamale station, a Kumasi suburb, when he tried to shoot an Army officer with his locally made pistol. Until his death, Awudu, a known burglar who once escaped from lawful custody, had been on the wanted list of the police in the region for sometime now, especially Obuasi where he was being accused of rape. The muscularly-built Awudu, an ex-convict who relied on his amazing strength to carry out his unlawful activities, was also being linked with numerous car snatching incidents and the raping of females in the city. Also before his sudden demise, Awudu was said to be living in a hideout in the city where he was training young and innocent kids in the art of robbery. One of such kids, 17-year-old Francis Gyimah, had since been nabbed by the police and was reported to have confessed that the late Awudu was their gang leader. A joint police/military patrol team had intentionally planned to apprehend Awudu who had been terrorizing the people in Kumasi, especially ‘Mayanka’ with his fiendish activities. But Awudu refused to comply with a simple order to surrender to the law enforcement agents, as without provocation, he pounced and traded blows with an army officer in public around 10:00 pm. Awudu, noted for usually raping his female victims before absconding with their belongings, managed to outwit the army officer in the melee and was a few seconds away from pulling the trigger of a locally made pistol to kill the soldier when a police officer swiftly gunned him down. Items such as a locally manufactured pistol, two live cartridges, two mobile phones, one of which had been identified as a stolen item, were retrieved from Awudu after he was gunned down. The huge frame of Awudu, covered with blood, was deposited at the premises of the Kumasi Central Police station on Sunday morning, attracting a sizeable number of curious persons in the process. Several ladies, who claimed Awudu had raped them after robbing them of their valuables, were sighted in the thick crowd, separately giving accounts of their ordeals at the hands of the now deceased criminal. Though dead and gone, almost all the curious people that jammed the Central Police Station were seen heaping tons of insults and insinuations on Awudu as if he could hear them. Others too were seen showering praises on the police/army patrol team for their splendid show in the past five days, urging them to sustain it in order to eradicate the robbery menace from the region. Addressing the press, the Ashanti Regional Police Commander, DCOP Patrick Timbillah, said his outfit received information about a robbery spree at Asokwa residential area on Friday but by the time the police could get to the scene, the hoodlums had already made away with GH¢150, four video decks, a television set and four mobile phones. The following day, which was Saturday, he said, the police gathered that three men were robbing people at Atonsu Kuwait so they rushed in again but for the second consecutive time, the hoodlums fled with their booty. DCOP Timbillah said the police learnt that the robbers would attack the area again on the day so they laid ambush and lo and behold, the hoodlums emerged, leading to the arrest of Gyimah who later confessed that Awudu was their leader. The Police Capo said during the Atonsu Kuwait operation, one police officer sighted Awudu in the crowd but before they could grab him, he vanished into thin air. Later on the same day, that same police officer on his return home sighted Awudu at Akwatia-line so he called for reinforcement but Awudu upon sighting the police/army team, tried killing a soldier to escape arrest but luck eluded him as he was gunned down. Meanwhile, DCOP Timbillah says the police are on the heels of a suspected hoodlum, Paa Tuo, a resident of Atonsu Kuwait who is said to be terrorizing people in the city with illicit activities. The police, he noted, had retrieved deadly weapons such as two sharp axes, a pair of scissors and a sharp knife from Otuo’s room and they believed he used these weapons to rob people of their valuables. From I.F. Joe Awuah Jnr., Kumasi