Three taxi snatchers under arrest

Page 48: February 12, 2008.
Story: Albert K. Salia
THREE persons who snatched a taxi from its driver and took it to Wa to sell have been arrested.
The three — Yakubu Mutawakil, 34; Salifu Abubakar, 27, and Vincent Agbadzi, 29 — are currently in custody at the Amasaman Police Station.
The Amasaman District Police Commander, Superintendent J. Oklu Gyamera, told the Daily Graphic after the arrest of the three, that the taxi driver, Mr Odartey Darlington, reported to the police on January 10, 2008, that two men had robbed him of his taxi, with registration number GS 3027 Y, at Odumasi, near Amasaman.
He said the driver claimed that the two men, who were later identified as Abubakar and Agbadzi, hired him from Achimota and requested that he took them to Odumasi.
He said the driver claimed that on reaching an isolated area near Odumasi, the two men pulled a knife at him and asked him to stop.
Supt Gyamera said the two men tied him up and gagged him with the duster to prevent him from shouting for help.
He said the men also took away the driver’s mobile phone and abandoned him in the bush and sped off.
According to him, the two men later picked Mutawakil on the way and headed for Wa.
Supt. Gyamera said the suspects then had to sell the mobile phone on their way to buy fuel.
The District Commander said upon reaching Wa, the suspects could not get a ready market for the vehicle, resulting in Abubakar and Agbadzi returning to Accra.
He said Mutawakil promised to sell the car at GH¢3,500 and bring the booty to Accra for them to share.
Supt. Gyamera said while the vehicle was in Wa, Mutawakil took it to a mechanic shop for the AMA embossment on it to be defaced.
He said while the mechanics were busy defacing the AMA embossment, an informant saw it and notified the Wa police on suspicion that it might have been a stolen vehicle.
He said the Wa police responded immediately and succeeded in arresting Mutawakil and impounded the vehicle as well.
According to him, because the Amasaman police had sent a signal about the loss of the vehicle, the Wa police brought both the suspect and the vehicle to Accra on February 6, 2008, to assist in investigations.
Supt Gyamera said while in custody, Mutawakil led the police to arrest Abubakar and Agbadzi from their hideouts.
He alleged that the three suspects confessed committing the offence.