Five of the six-member car snatching syndicate arrested in connection with a robbery incident in Tamale last Sunday were convicted on their own pleas by the Circuit Court in Tamale on Tuesday, January 25.
Yussif Mustapha, 23; Ibrahim Issah, 27; Seram Addo, 34; Adjei Benjamin, 23, and Vivor Christopher, 27, are facing five counts of conspiracy to rob, robbery, possession of firearms and ammunition without lawful authority and possession of police and military accoutrements.
A sixth accused person, Alhassan Mohammed, 29, a teacher who is said to be an informant to the robbery gang, pleaded not guilty to the charges.
The court, presided over by Mr Alexandra Oworae, deferred the sentencing of the five to Friday, January 28, 2022, while Mohammed was remanded into prison custody.
He is to reappear on February 9, 2022.
The court also issued a bench warrant for the arrest of three other suspects said to have been supplying the accused persons with arms and ammunition.
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Background
The six, believed to be members of a syndicate operating in the Tamale Metropolis and its environs, were arrested by the police for allegedly snatching a car from its owner at gunpoint at Jonshegu, a suburb of Tamale last Sunday.
Five of the suspects initially bolted with their booty but were pursued and arrested at Sawaba, near Buipe, in the Savannah Region.
The sixth suspect, Mohammed, a teacher of Kanvile R/C Primary School, who is said to be an informant for the robbers, was later picked up at a hideout.
The police retrieved a G3 rifle with a magazine loaded with 16 rounds of ammunition, a pistol, a pair of gloves, a military cap, two military scarfs, a catapult, a coil of cello tape and military ID cards from the suspects.
Upon interrogation, Mustapha Yussif, who was in military uniform, named a source that provided them with guns and ammunition.
The police then proceeded to a house and retrieved a G3 rifle fitted with a magazine loaded with 16 rounds of ammunition.
According to the police, while the suspects were being interrogated, a victim of the robbery gang identified a black Toyota Camry robbed in August 2021 on Tamale-Nanton road.
The said vehicle was subsequently impounded by the police.