Three passengers, two of whom were on a VIP bus, also sustained injuries and were sent to the Nkawkaw Government Hospital for treatment.

Two of the injured were treated and discharged.

The hood-wearing armed robbers, numbering about five and suspected to be of Fulani descent, laid ambush in a nearby bush and struck as the truck approached.

They were alleged to have signalled the truck to stop and when the driver failed to heed their signal, they fired at him, hitting him in the forehead.

That resulted in the truck veering off the road into the bush.

The body of the deceased, identified as Hamida Diary, has since been deposited at the Konongo Government Hospital.

The incident occurred near the Breku Forest, about five kilometres from Dadieso, the border town between the Ashanti and Eastern regions, around 1:30 a.m.

Briefing the press at the scene of the incident, the Deputy Ashanti Regional Police Commander, Assistant Commissioner of Police Mr Osei Kweku Ampofo-Duku, said the robbers emerged from the bush and signalled the deceased to stop, but he did not heed to the order.

He said after shooting the driver, the robbers rushed onto the truck, with registration number UW 732 C and loaded with sugar and rice, to rob the occupants.

Mr Ampofo-Duku said while robbing the first truck, another truck, with registration number GN 4906-11 and driven by Bismark Adomako Yeboah, also pulled up, thinking the other truck had developed a fault.

According to the Deputy Police Commander, when the other truck pulled up, the robbers again emerged and asked the occupants to lie face down on the road and robbed them of their cash and other personal items, including mobile phones.

A Blue Bird VIP passenger bus, with registration number  GM 8050-13 and travelling from Kumasi to Accra, which appeared on the scene was also attacked.

Mr Ampofo-Duku said the robbers shot the window on the driver’s side of the bus when they were unable to open it and the bullet hit two passengers in the bus who sustained injuries.

He said no arrest had been made yet but investigations indicated that the robbers came from the Eastern Region to commit the crime.

According to him, from the sound of the gunshots that the eyewitnesses described to the police and from the shells that were found on the scene, the robbers were suspected to have used a pump action gun for the operation.

They are Nana Ama Agyeiwaa, a self-styled fitness instructor who is said to render services to high-profile personalities in their homes, and Avo Kevorkion, a Lebanese and showroom manager of Cemix Company Limited, where the robbery occurred.

Charges

They were charged with three counts of abetment of robbery, conspiracy to commit crime and robbery and the court, presided over by Mr Justice Mustapha Logoh, sentenced each of them to a 15-year prison term.

Cemix

Cemix Company Limited deals in power-generating machines and plants.

One of the accomplices, Osei Kwame, managed to escape with GH¢75,000, $320,000 and 111,000 Euros.

He is currently on the police wanted list.

Customer armed with gun and knife 

Prosecuting, an Assistant State Attorney, Nii Kpakpo Addo, told the court that the Managing Director (MD) of Cemix Company Limited, Jean Francis Mourad, was attacked by Agyeiwaa and Osei, who were armed with a knife and a pistol, about 11 a.m. on November 4, 2011.

He said Agyeiwaa and Osei went to the premises of the company under the pretext of buying power generators.

There, a frontline officer, Mohammed Fowel, informed the managing director about the presence of the prospective buyers and Mr Mourad asked that they be sent to his office.

According to the prosecution, while in the MD’s office, Agyeiwaa and Osei reiterated their interest in buying some of the generators.

“Suddenly, Osei pulled the pistol and threatened to kill the MD if he did not obey their instructions, while Agyeiwaa held the knife,” the prosecution said.

The escape 

Nii Addo said the MD was ordered to lie on the floor, after which Osei gave his pistol to Agyeiwaa to point it at Mr Mourad.

According to him, Osei then tied Mr Mourad’s hands and legs and subsequently dragged him into a washroom, after which the two ransacked the office and took the various sums of money.

“But while they were leaving the premises, Mr Mourad, who had managed to free himself, raised an alarm,” he added.

The two, according to the prosecution, jumped into a waiting taxi, which was pursued by some employees and a prisons officer, Corporal Yaro Bukari, who was driving by.

In the course of the chase, Agyeiwaa was captured, while Osei made away with the money.

Lebanese planned robbery 

Mr Addo said police investigations revealed that Kevorkion had been part of the plan to rob Cemix.

He said it was also found during investigations that Kevorkion was the one who had told Agyeiwaa and Osei where they could find the moneys.

He said the police also established that Kevorkion had been in constant phone contact with Agyeiwaa for some time now.

“Even during the robbery, the two were communicating with each other,” the prosecution said.

According to the police, Agyeiwaa admitted to being in a relationship with Kevorkion and also claimed that she had participated in the robbery under duress.

Kevorkion, on the other hand, denied knowing Agyeiwaa or ever having any form of relationship with her.

“Even when evidence of telephone communication was showed to him, he still denied,” Mr Addo told the court.