Three military men have been arrested by the Kumasi Police for allegedly robbing small scale mining firms in the area.
Lance Corporal Yeboah Samuel, L/Cprl Dacosta Aboagye and L/Cprl Baffour Michael, from the Burma Camp in Accra, were arrested with three other civilians whilst trying to escape with their loot, police sources told Luv FM;s Erastus Asare Donkor.
The soldiers and their accomplices allegedly went to a mining site, Prime Gem, at Asepaye in Atwima Mponua District of the Ashanti Region and demanded gold and money.
“Our bosses were not around but I had on me a GHC100 so I gave it to them, but they said it was not enough and started ransacking the place. There is a secure place we keep our black (gold concentrate), they asked for the keys but I told them I didn’t have the key, our bosses took the key away,” an Assistant Manager at Prime Gem, named only as Henry, told Erastus.
Henry said the military men “requested for heavy metals to break the door. They took the metals and started breaking it.”
The assistant manager said one of the soldiers said he could shoot the door open but they didn’t need it; the door had given way upon heavy pounding.
“They took the black; the black is what is processed to get the gold, it was a bowl-full, they took our mercury and then they continued to ask us for money,” he stated.
After further searches, the suspected robbers left in a Toyota Landcruiser with Registration Number GR 2450-12 and driven by Jonathan Yeboah, a local galamsey operator.
The victims of the robbery then alerted the police. A police patrol team was informed about the robbery incident and immediately moved to the scene and bumped into the six suspected robbers. A chase ensued.
The police patrol team, probably using its superior knowledge of the topography of the area, out-run the suspects and arrested them.
They found on the soldiers and their accomplices, a bowl containing gold concentrate. The soldiers were fully armed and in military uniforms.
Erastus reported that the soldiers are currently in police custody whilst investigations continue. They have been identified by the victims as the perpetrators of Sunday evening’s robbery attack on them.
Erastus quotes a police source as saying the military command in Kumasi are requesting that the men be handed over to them for further investigations.
