The headquarters of the Ghana Police Service, yesterday, dispatched a team of crack detectives, backed by heavily armed personnel, from the operations unit to the Northern Region to fish out the gunmen who shot and killed a policewoman on duty.
The detectives, drawn from the Police Intelligence Unit, Homicide Unit, and Crime Scene Management Experts, the latter to handle issues involving ballistics, fingerprints, DNA, and photographers are expected to beef up a squad already standing by in Tamale to capture the notorious criminals.
It is not clear the background and motive of the armed men, especially when they decided to shoot and kill only the policewoman, who reportedly screamed ‘Jesus, Jesus’.
The Policewoman, Number 5472, General Corporal Agatha Nana Nabin of the Tamale Regional Police Headquarters, was, in the night of Tuesday, July 30, 2019, in charge of two other personnel performing snap check duties on the Kumbungu road near the Star Oil Filling Station at the outskirts of Tamale.
Information gathered by The Chronicle through a police source suggested that at about 22:45hrs, an ash-coloured saloon car was signalled to stop on approaching the checkpoint.
Four occupants, all armed, dressed in military camouflage, over desert boots and wearing masks got down from the car.
The deceased on seeing them approaching reportedly screamed ‘Jesus, Jesus’.
She was suddenly shot at the back of the head with the bullet passing through the mouth and killing her instantly.
A second policewoman, on witnessing the traumatic act, made attempt to run and take cover, but was obstructed and fell to the ground at the filling station by a bench. The armed hooded men rushed to the scene and asked her to surrender the AK 47 assault rifle, since they were not there to kill her and she obliged. The policeman among them who scaled an obstacle, though sustained some injuries, managed to take cover and opened fire on the criminals.
At this juncture, since the firing was coming from an unknown direction and so as not to be overpowered, the attackers picked the loaded two assault rifles and fled. When the Northern Regional Police Command visited the scene, one spent shell, suspected to have been fired from a G3 rifle, was picked
A highly placed military source at Burma Camp, interacting with this reporter, hinted that the Defense Intelligence (DI) of the Ghana Armed Forces (GAF) would be collaborating with the police to investigate the unfortunate incident.
According to the source, the GAF presently use the G3 for parades and drills, and that they are now using M16 and other weapons.
The source would not rule out the possibility of bandits stockpiling arms for unknown reasons, especially in the geographical area where pockets of enforced peace exist. The military source further commented on cross border activities, where weapons such as G3 are brought in from war-ravaged countries in the sub-region.
The late policewoman, The Chronicle gathered, left behind a husband, six children, three of who are her biological ones, and other three from her sister who also died recently.
source: The Chronicle
