A SUSPECTED highway robber believed to be in his mid-twenties was shot dead by a police patrol team near Adankwame, a community on the outskirts of Kumasi, yesterday morning.
The unidentified man was hit below one of his ears and died subsequently during a shoot-out with the police around 5:30am at a village called Pasuro in the Atwima Nwabiagya District of the Ashanti Region.
He was among a gang of suspected robbers who were onboard a Toyota Corolla taxi cab registered AS 787-10, and refused to stop at a police checkpoint at Twapease when they were signaled to do so.
ASP Yusif Mohammed Tanko, the Ashanti Regional Police PRO, told newsmen at a briefing that since the area was noted for highway robberies, the action of the criminal gang aroused the suspicion of the police personnel.
According to him, the patrol team pursued the robbers towards Tabre, but the miscreants, who knew the terrain well, turned toward the Mankranso direction at top speed.
Unperturbed by the action, the police patrol team chased the suspects who opened fire on the men in uniform when they realized the patrol team was closing in on them.
The police PRO indicated that the law enforcement agents returned fire, and in the process, hit the deceased below one of his ears.
ASP Tanko said the taxi later ran into ditch, and before his men could reach the location, the other members of the gang had escaped, leaving behind the deceased.
He stated that a search conducted in the taxi cab revealed one locally made pistol, three empty cartridges, coils of electrical cables, a pinch bar, two cutters, two pairs of pliers, and a broken hammer.
He added that the taxi had since been impounded and was with the regional CID pending further investigations into the incident.
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