-as shocking details on bullion vans robbers emerge including 2017 protocol recruitment
There appears to be more to the death of the two police officers mentioned as part of a gang of roguish policemen behind the armed attacks and robberies of bullion vans across the country, leading to them murdering another policeman, Constable Emmanuel Osei, last year, who coincidentally was their mate and unit member.
The narrative emerging is that, the Police administration, is hiding a premeditated killing of the two policemen as its claim that the two personnel; Constable Reindorf Gyimah Ansah and Lance Cpl Stephen Kwaku Nyame, after their arrests, were armed and sent to Borteyman near Ashaiman, to help truck down others involved in the bullion van robberies, have failed to make sense and convince anyone.
The Herald is picking up reports from some residents of Borteyman that, they only saw a fleet of cars belonging to Ghana Police Service, including ambulances driving through their area, but they never heard any gunshot or exchange of gunfire as being suggested by the police that the dead officers engaged in an open gun battle with the instigators and got killed.
Additional details forked out from the Police service by The Herald is that, Constable Reindorf Gyimah Ansah with service number; 58284, was part of a police protocol recruitment exercise done immediately Nana Akufo-Addo government took over the reins of the country in 2017.
The service numbers of four other police officers arrested in connection with the bullion van robberies after police investigations, show they belong to the same intake recruited under a special arrangement which was not published in the newspapers as required.
The four policemen turned suspects are; Constable Affisu Yaro Ibrahim with service number 58370, Constable Richard Boadu with service 58355, Constable Rabiu Jambedu with service number 58525, Constable Albert Ofosu with service number 58586.
It is not clear, which intake Lance Corporal Stephan Kwaku Nyame with service number 53549, described as the best police recruit in his batch, belonged to. But videos of him passing out at the Tesano police depot and being awarded and congratulated by the now retired Inspector General of Police, David Asante Appiatu, have since gone viral.
They are believed to be relatives of members of the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP), and the current development that they, including one Razak Alhassan, a civilian, are members of the bullion van robbers, have sent tongues wagging within the police service.
The Herald is informed that, after their passing out, they were sent to the National SWAT team at the Police Headquarters in Accra together with Constable Emmanuel Osei, whom they shot in the head in June, last year at Jamestown – Accra in an area called Adedenkpo.
Lance Corporal Stephan Kwaku Nyame, is also part of the National SWAT police unit as the others.
They knew each other very well and called themselves friends as they belonged to the same police unit. Constable Osei, is said to have identified his killer and called him by his name, hence had to be silenced through death.
The police robbers, also killed a mother of three, 40-year-old Joyce Amankwah, when they shot into her shop in Adedenkpo.
Senior police officers The Herald spoke with, demanded to know how the rogues were recruited into the police service, who did the recruitment, who compiled their list, how competitive was the recruitment exercise and where were they trained?
There appears to be a specialized treatment for the group where some of them, including Constable Reindorf Gyimah Ansah, keep their beards, dress in civilian clothes and wear earrings in some instances.
Other reports emerging on Constable Reindorf Gyimah is that, he was expelled from Wenchi Senior High School in 2014, after stealing. It is unclear, if the Ghana Police was aware of this before recruiting him.
Meanwhile, many social media users, have done an extensive search on Constable Reindorf Gyimah Ansah and gotten several posts on his Facebook with several pictures and videos of him mourning the man; Constable Emmanuel Osei he took part in killing.
The Ghana Police Service, had in a statement on March 7, 2022, announced a major breakthrough in its investigations into the series of robberies and in a plot twist, the announcement included the implication of some police officers in the four robbery incidents.
In announcing what it tagged as a breakthrough in its investigations, the Ghana Police Service in its release, said it had established through investigations, the involvement of two police officers among a number of suspects in the bullion van attacks.
“Preliminary investigations have established the involvement of two policemen among a number of other suspects. The investigations are continuing and we expect to soon bring all culpable people to face justice,” the police said.
The police service indicated that the breakthrough in the investigations was linked to four incidents, including one at Kingsway somewhere in February 2021, at Baatsona, Spintex, in March 2021, Jamestown, Adedenkpo, in June 2021 and a recent attempted robbery at North Kaneshie Industrial Area, in February 2022.
The statement, however, failed to list the name of the officers with the promise of further updates and investigations.
Two arrested police officers killed in gunfire a day after announcing the breakthrough and the announcement of two officers, the Ghana Police Service in a new release indicated that the two officers initially arrested in connection with the robberies, had been killed.
According to the police, it carried out an intelligence-led raid at the hideout of the gang connected with bullion van robberies and the two officers who were leading the police to the hideout died after sustaining gunshots in a shootout, adding two officers were pronounced dead on arrival at the police hospital.
“During the raid at Borteyman near Ashiaman, there was an exchange of gunshots and two policemen, No.58284 Constable Reindolph Gyimah Ansah and No. 53549 L/Cpl Stephen Kwaku Nyame who had been arrested in connection with the Bullion Van Robberies, were shot and were pronounced dead on arrival at the police hospital where they were rushed for treatment. Some other suspects believed to have sustained gunshot wounds managed to escape from the scene,” the statement released on March 8, 2022, stated.
In the same release on March 7, the Police Service, said five more suspects including four police officers had been arrested in connection with the robberies following further investigations. “The policemen involved have been interdicted and all the suspects, No. 58370 Const. Affisu Yaro Ibrahim, No 58355 Const. Richard Boadu, No. 58525 Const Rabiu Jambedu, No. 58586 Const Albert Ofosu and suspect Razak Alhassan (a civilian) will be arraigned before court tomorrow Wednesday, 9th March 2022,” the statement said.
The statement added that five more civilian suspects connected to the robberies were being pursued by the police.
But arrests and praises have not prevented several concerns from being shared following the revelation that police officers were involved in the crimes.
Other concerns have had to do with the circumstance under which the two police officers who became suspects in the case lost their lives.
Such concerns have been shared by Foreign Policy and Security Analyst, Adib Saani, who has questioned incidents leading to the death of two policemen.
Adib Saani, has indicated that circumstances surrounding their deaths are questionable “and some people are conjecturing that some top officers in the police service were involved in the crime. Because they feared the arrested persons would give out information to their arrests, they killed them.”
According to him, the information given by the police on their deaths does not make sense. “I read the statement repeatedly to make sure I was getting everything right but it doesn’t stick. It is a non-starter,” he told Don Kwabena Prah on Happy98.9FM’s Epa Hoa Daben political talk show.
From the security point of view, he posited that a suspect in custody, should ideally be in handcuffs and not be actively involved in a raid.
“All they needed to do was to point out other suspects and it doesn’t make sense that they were the only two who died.”
Meanwhile, security and safety analyst, Dr Kaziyiri Adam Bonaa, has called for a review of processes in the recruitment into the country’s security services.
Dr Bonaa, has also asked for thorough background checks to be conducted on all persons recruited into the police service over the last 10 years.
Source: theheraldnews.com