Police identify Madina ECOBANK robbers

Page 3: Daily Graphic, February 3, 2009.
Story: Albert K. Salia
THE identities of the armed men who attacked the Madina branch of ECOBANK on June 23, last year and robbed it of a large sum of money, after killing the policeman on duty, have now been established.
According to the Accra Regional Police Command, the suspects were five, including two brothers, Awudu Mahama and Fatau Mahama.
The command has, accordingly, placed a GH¢10,000 ransom on the five suspects.
It has also placed a ransom of GH¢2,000 on another robbery gang, headed by Mathias Kwasi Tsegah, who robbed a family of $67,400 on January 21, this year.
The police also said that both Awudu Mahama and Mathias Kwasi Tsegah were ex-convicts who had been released from prison early last year.
The Accra Regional Police Commander, Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCOP) James Oppong-Buanuh, and his deputy, Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) Bright Oduro, told newsmen yesterday that other members of the ECOBANK robbery incident had been identified only as Suleiman Drogban, Benin Boy and ‘Not Nice’.
DCOP Oppong-Buanuh said all the suspects had relocated from their known residences at Kokrobite and Mallam.
He alleged that Awudu master-minded the operation and also shot the policeman guarding the bullion van from which they made away with GH¢60,000 on June 23, 2008.
On the nationalities of the suspects, he said ‘Not Nice’ is a Ghanaian, Suleiman and Benin Boy were half Ghanaians and half Nigerians, while Awudu and Fatau are both Nigerians.
With regard to Mathias Tsegah, ACP Oduro said his three-man gang, including Leon, alias Spider, and Elom, trailed their victim from her Haatso residence to the West Legon area about 6:30 a.m. on January 21, 2009 to rob her of her money.
He said the robbers, who were riding an unregistered motorbike which had been retrieved by the police, shot the tyres of the vehicle in which the woman, her husband and another female were riding to the airport, took them hostage and collected the money.
ACP Oduro said the suspects had been linked to a series of robbery cases at the Spintex area and Community 8 in Tema.
He said several attempts had been made to arrest them but to no avail.