Police arrest weapon-brandishing men threatening to hurt victims who resist robbery

In a widely shared video, Kwame Sarpong and Ibrahim Mohammed are seen brandishing knives and machetes and threatening to hurt anyone who opposes them while they carry out their operation.

The two suspects, who call themselves "Aputuogya gangsters," were taken into custody at their hiding place in the Ashanti Region's Aputuogya, Kumasi on November 19, 2023, the Ghana Police Service said in a statement, adding the suspects were helping with investigations.

Recently, an 80-year-old shea butter seller was hospitalised at the Ajumako District Government Hospital after being dragged into a bush and raped mercilessly by a 23-year-old man at knifepoint.

The octogenarian suffered the sexual assault at the hands of the perpetrator believed to be a notorious criminal at Etsii Sonkwa in the Ajumako Enyan Essiam District of the Central Region.

The victim was travelling from Etsii Sonkwa to Ofabil, a nearby community, with the intention of collecting money from those who had purchased some of her shea butter and owed her when she was assaulted.

The victim, while on her way to her debtors, met Kobina Nyame, the suspect who is said to be a well-known felon and marijuana user. He stopped her, dragged a knife out on the defenceless elderly woman, and threatened to kill her if she didn't have sex with him. He then dragged her into a nearby bush where he forcibly had sex with her.

After satisfying his weird sexual thirst, Kobina Nyame warned her to keep her ordeal secret or risk being killed any time he met her.

The woman was struggling to find her way home when she ran across a man on a motorcycle who picked her up. Despite the warning from the rapist, she told the motorcycle rider about her ordeal, and he told the local assembly member.

The incident was reported to the Chiefs and elders of Etsii Sonkwa and the culprit was arrested and taken to the Chief's palace by the town's angry youth.

Kobina Nyame confessed to the crime and he was handed over to the Ajumako District Police Command where he is in custody helping with the investigation.