The Ghana Police Service has linked a suspected robbery syndicate whose planned attack on banks at Labone in Accra was foiled to at least two previous attacks on bank customers in Tema and Achimota.
Police said the syndicate had been under surveillance since April 2026 following intelligence that its members were targeting customers who withdrew large sums of money from banks, tracking them and allegedly attacking them afterwards.
Investigators said the suspects used master keys to gain access to targeted vehicles and, in some cases, broke into the vehicles to steal cash and other valuables.
The group has been linked to a May 17 incident at Agbamaame in Tema Community 2, where a woman was allegedly robbed of GH¢50,000 shortly after withdrawing the money from a bank.
A second incident occurred on June 11 at Achimota, where the suspects allegedly held a young man at gunpoint after he withdrew an unspecified amount of money from a bank and was on his way home.
The police surveillance operation reached a breakthrough on August 13 after investigators received information that members of the suspected syndicate had been seen at a bank on Spintex Road and were heading towards Labone and Cantonments.
Police subsequently followed a black Hyundai Tucson, with registration number GS 7915-19, and an ash-coloured Toyota Highlander, registered GS 1434-18.
The two vehicles were later spotted around Zenith Bank, GCB Bank and Ecobank at Labone, where the suspects had allegedly positioned themselves to monitor customers and the banking facilities.
The police moved in and successfully disrupted the suspected robbery operation. Two suspects were shot dead, another fled the scene, while 49-year-old Augustine Okechuku Maazi was arrested.
A search of the Toyota Highlander uncovered a Blow F90 pistol and 13 different vehicle registration numbers.
Further investigations revealed that the suspects allegedly imported vehicles into Ghana and replaced their original Nigerian registration plates with Ghanaian number plates as part of efforts to conceal their identities and facilitate their operations.
Maazi has since been remanded into custody as investigations continue.
The police are also pursuing other suspected members of the syndicate who remain at large.
Also read:
