The main suspect in the killing of two police officers at Gomoa Buduburam, Eric Kojo Duah and six other suspects have been remanded in custody by the Kaneshie Magistrate Court.
They would be kept in the custody of the Bureau of National Investigations (BNI).The Kaneshie Magistrate Court gave the order when the police arraigned the suspects on Monday morning.
Presiding
judge of the Kaneshie District Court, Justice Rosemond Dodua
Agyiri remanded them into Bureau of National Iinvestigations (BNI) and
police cells. Eric
Kojo Duah, who was arrested at Atimpoku last Saturday was moved Accra and
placed BNI cells to help in investigations and face criminal charges.
Before Duah’s arrest, the police had picked up his wife from her hideout at
Teshie.
According to the source, Duah’s wife reportedly left the house in which the
couple lived at Buduburam, in a bid to escape possible arrest, but police
investigations led to her arrest from a house where she was hiding at Teshie.
The woman, whose identity was not immediately made known by the source, was
subsequently handed over to investigators at the CID Headquarters, who
interviewed her and elicited information on her husband’s whereabouts and that
helped to apprehend Duah a few hours later through a coordinated special task
exercise by the police.
After the murder of the two policemen, Lance Corporal Mohammend Awal and
Sergeant Dzamasi, three suspects were arrested, but the fourth person managed
to escape.
The three suspects — Ibrahim Zakaria, Isaac Amissah and Dominic Commey — were
arrested for killing the two policemen at Gomoa Buduburam, near Kasoa in the
Central Region.
The suspects allegedly shot Sgt Dzamesi and L/Corporal Awal, both attached to
the Motor Traffic and Transport Department (MTTD) of the Ghana Police Service
at Kasoa, who were on task force duties on the Kasoa-Winneba highway.
The suspects, who were using an unregistered Toyota Camry vehicle and said to
be driving recklessly, shot the unarmed policemen after refusing to stop when
the security officers signalled them to do so.
Duah’s pistol was found in the abandoned Toyota Camry and the Police
Administration declared a manhunt operation aimed at getting the suspected
killer(s) arrested.
The acting Inspector General of Police (IGP), Mr James Oppong-Boanuh, announced
a GH?10,000 bounty on the head of the suspect who had escaped and also brought
together five regional police commands, supported by policemen from the CID
Headquarters.
The five regional commands were Accra and Central, in whose jurisdiction the
crime took place, and the Eastern, Volta and Western commands, which were
involved to monitor possible escape routes.
Copies of the suspect’s picture were also circulated to all police formation
units and through traditional and social media platforms to alert the public.
The contingent plan succeeded when the suspect was nabbed by the Atimpoku
Police on the Adomi Bridge, near Senchi, in the Eastern Region.
Disguise uncovered
when he was arrested, Duah had a plaster on the left side of his face, possibly
to disguise himself, and was travelling on a black Golf saloon car, with
registration number GW 5972 – 18, which was heading towards the Volta Region.
Sources close to the police told the Daily Graphic that he was trying to escape
to neighbouring Togo, from where his wife is said to hail.
They indicated that he was picked up by the police who were on duty on routine
road checks but who had received a signal and the description of the vehicle travelling
on that route.
According to the sources, Duah was very nervous when the vehicle in which he
was travelling was stopped and the police approached him.
Duah is suspected to be a member of a group of notorious land guards who
terrorise landowners and potential landowners in the Gomoa area, as well as
Kasoa and its environs.
He is also known to engage in commercial activities by operating a shop where
he deals in motorcycles and their spare parts near Buduburam.
His arrest has been attributed to intelligence operation that identified him
and gave his exact description and that of the car he was using.
