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The Prampram Divisional Police Command has arrested four men who allegedly attacked a Cattle Ranch at gunpoint at Miotso near Prampram in the Greater Accra Region.
Divisional Crime Officer Chief Superintendent Cecilia Arko who paraded three of the suspects for identification on a possible link to other related crimes in the area said the police are still on a manhunt for an alleged leader of the gang.
According to Police Chief Superintendent Cecilia Arko, Divisional Crime Officer of Prampram, on Monday, January 18, 2021, it was reported that a gang of six, guns and other offensive wielding men riding motor bikes and two cars stormed a Cattle Ranch where the Asafoiatse of Agbazo Wem in Prampram Nene Lartey Bantama keeps his cattle with those of others amidst sporadic shootings.
The gang abducted one of the herdsmen and inflicted several gunshot wounds on another herdsman who managed to escape. She said one cow was also killed in the process.
At identification parade of three out of the four arrested gang members, Chief Superintendent Cecilia Arko, said it was the boldness of an eyewitness which saved the wounded escapee.
She said the police thereafter, upon a tip-off, arrested four of the perpetrators at their hideouts.
“These people are part of a notorious gang that has been perpetrating crime in the Prampram enclave.
They have been involved in a number of crimes of various degrees in the area. We are going to process them to court for prosecution”, Chief Superintendent Cecilia Arko asserted.
Meanwhile a shareholder of the Cattle Ranch Asafoiatse Lartey Bantama has revealed that the incident goes beyond mere robbery attack.
Speaking to the press at his residence, Asafoaitse Bantama said the attackers were after his life because he has been making frantic moves to stop members of an Arden and Dapor family from illegally selling off government lands to unsuspected buyers.
According to him, his motivation is to pave way for government to develop the land which belongs to government to improve the socio-economic standards of the people of Prampram and its environs.
He said the rising insecurity at the Prampram enclave can be attributed to two major phenomena; being chieftaincy and land litigation.
He said some notorious land grabbers within the Arden and Dapor Family at Dawhenya are the main perpetrators of the crimes in the area.
According to Nene Bantama, the leader of the gang that attacked the Cattle Ranch is a member of the Arden and Dapor Family who have falsified a court ruling against themselves and are rather using it to sell the land to unsuspecting buyers.
“This is their modus operandi: They lure innocent buyers and sell the land to them illegally. After you have given the money to them they give you fake documents and if they realized you are being vigilant, they attack you with guns and kill you”, Asafoiatse Bantama revealed.
Asafoiatse Lartey Bantam further revealed the identity of the said leader of the gang as one Anum Adams who wields himself as the chief of Asroshie, near Prampram.
“Anum Adams is the leader of the gang. He and his cohorts including Makoko have threatened to kill me just as they killed my father and I think this is a call on the Police to act swiftly”, Asafoiatse Bantama stressed.
Asafoiatse Bantama further indicated that his worry is the fate of the abducted Fulani herdsman.
They should just bring the boy they have abducted.
“I am told they beat him to pulp, bundled him and put him in their car booth. We don’t know what has happened to him” he lamented.
They should just bring him whether dead or alive, he is someone’s son”, worried Asafoiatse Lartey Bantama exclaimed.
The Prampram Divisional Police command has however indicated that they will not rest until the gang leader is apprehended.
By: Joseph Nana Yaw Cobbina
