Two suspects have been arrested in connection with the fuel tanker hijacking incident on the Accra to Kumasi highway on Thursday.
The suspects were arrested by the Anyinam District Police Command in the Eastern Region Friday evening when they gathered intelligence in collaboration with National Petroleum Authority that the stolen fuel tanker was hiding in a secluded area near Anyinam.
The Anyinam District Commander, DSP Raymond Mahama Iddrisu, and his men moved to the scene but managed to arrest only one of the suspects at the scene as others managed to escape into the bush.
The suspects had siphoned the fuel into intermediate bulk container (IBC) and drum containers waiting to smuggle away at night.
Police worked throughout the night to move the fuel tanker and the siphoned fuel to the police station at Anyinam.
Later, police gathered intelligence that someone was selling fuel in drum to a filling station which police quickly moved in to arrest the suspect.
The two suspects have been handed over to the Kibi Divisional Police command.
The tanker driver, Isaac Abban, in charge of a tanker vehicle with registration number GT-8109- 19 fully loaded with 54,000 liters of petrol from Accra towards Kumasi direction says he was stopped by the armed suspect who disguised as a police officer at about 9:00 pm Thursday, January 12, 2023, at Okanta stretch of the Accra to Kumasi Highways.
However, because he was descending he could not stop abruptly.
The alleged suspect and the two other accomplices pursued the vehicle with a taxi, arrested the driver and the mate on the road, forcibly took away the key of the vehicle, tied and sent them to a house on the road under guard instead of Amasaman police station which they initially assured.
The mobile phones of the victims were also seized and taken away.
The fake police officer, however, left two plain clothed men behind the tanker vehicle under the guise of protecting it.
The driver and mate were abandoned but after gaining freedom Friday morning around 5:30 am, they noticed the tanker vehicle was nowhere to be found.
They reported the incident to Teacher Mante Police which wireless message was sent for the manhunt of the suspects.
Upon hearing the arrest, the Ayensuano District Commander and the victims went to the scene at Anyinam where they identified the tanker as the one stolen from them.