The Accra Regional Police Command has shot dead five suspected armed robbers on the Accra Tema motorway, Thursday dawn.
The shoot-out took place during an 'operation' gathered by Police intelligence indicating that about 15 robbers had planned to embark on a number of attacks.
“The police strategized comprehensively to thwart this agenda and mounted surveillance on the suspects, who were on board two saloon vehicles and a bus,†the Accra Regional Police Commander, DCOP George Alex Mensah told the media on Thursday morning.
Though the confrontation escalated into a gunfight, DCOP Mensah said the police tried to engage the robbers without violence initially.
“The team tried to get the vehicles to pull over but the suspects, seeing the police, started firing indiscriminately into the police surveillance car narrowly missing the policemen on board. The [police] team was then reinforced and engaged the suspects in the shootout,†he explained.
“These robbers are suspected to be connected with several robberies within the metropolis, especially the recent attacks and robberies on forex bureaux and the Adenta robberies we all know about,†DCOP Mensah added.
Some of the deceased suspects have been identified as Habib, Paa, Baby Jet and Birdman, and they have been conveyed to the police hospital morgue.
All kinds of weapons and some talismans were also retrieved from them.
The police also believe that their accomplices who escaped sustained varying degrees of injury during the gunfight.
DCOP Mensah has urged the public to be on the lookout for persons with “strange woundsâ€.