Robbers bolt away with over GH₵100k in another bullion van heist

Two suspected armed robbers allegedly made away with over GH₵ 100,000 in yet another bullion van attack in Tarkwa in the Western Region.

While shooting, the robbers are said to have trailed the bullion van, which arrived at the Ransbet Super Shopping market at about 9 am on Monday, October 18 to collect weekend sales to the bank.

One of the robbers reportedly disguised himself as a shopper with a gun on him.

CCTV footage at the shop showed after the cashier on the Mon-Trans bullion van took the money from the supermarket and was about to put it in the bullion van, the robber — who was inside the supermarket charged on him.

The robber is said to have snatched the money and walked away to sit on the motorbike, which had the other robber in charge, and sped off.

There were no fatalities reported as the armed men robbed at ease.

The Western Regional Police Command confirmed the incident to state-owned Graphic, adding that investigations were ongoing.

Manager of the Supermarket Mabel Dzedu noted that the van arrived at the supermarket premises without a police escort.

“The robber first entered the cosmetic shop and walked around for a while and then picked a drink and other items, paid for the items at the counter and waited for the items to be bagged,” she narrated.

Madam Dzedu also revealed that they had a contract with Mon-Trans to carry money from the shop to the bank daily.

“When the bankers arrived, the team went through the process of counting the sales, and after the transaction was completed, they carried the money towards the waiting bullion van only for the unfortunate to happen,” she said.

In recent times, bullion vans have been increasingly targeted by robbers.

March 29, 2012

There was a scramble as passers-by and second-hand phone dealers struggled for access to large sums of money that had dropped from a Toyota bullion van that had been involved in an accident at the Kwame Nkrumah Circle in Accra.

The speeding bullion van with registration number GW 1847 S and travelling from Accra New Town towards the Kwame Nkrumah Circle, collided with a VIP bus at an intersection near the Vodafone Head Office.

With the occupants of the vehicle trapped inside, the army of second-hand phone dealers and passers-by who rushed to the accident scene took to looting the wads of cash that spilled from the vehicle.

July 21, 2018

A police officer, who was guarding a bullion van reportedly shot and killed the bullion driver by accident at Odumase Krobo in the Eastern Region.

The bullion van driver reportedly met a rowdy funeral procession on the Odumase Krobo road.

The police officer, who was guarding the bullion van, in an attempt to restore order for the van to drive through the noisy funeral procession, fired warning shots, which bullet hit the driver.

October 4, 2019

One person was confirmed dead following a head-on collision between a Bank of Ghana bullion van and a fuel tanker at Techiman in the Bono East Region.

The collision also sent thousands of Ghana cedis notes flying into the sky and scattered on the road.

December 3, 2019

On December 3, 2019, a police officer was confirmed dead after a bullion van he was escorting was attacked by some armed men.

The deceased, Sergeant Emmanuel Chikudoh was part of a team escorting an ADB bullion van to Essam in the Western Region when the incident occurred.

October 7, 2020

On October 7, 2020, two people who connived to steal more than GH¢ 1 million they were transporting in a bullion van for a bank were sentenced to four years in prison.

A Cash in Transit (CIT) Officer, Bismark Abem, and a driver, Eric Larbi, were found guilty of two charges—conspiracy to commit crime and stealing.

June 28, 2021

Some unidentified armed men on several motorbikes crossed the bullion van, which was on a pay/collection errand, at about 11:00 hours at Adedenkpo, a suburb of James Town.

The robbers reportedly shot at a police officer on escort duty on the van, killing him instantly.

The armed men also fired sporadically in the air and on the driver, who sustained gunshot wounds.

A hawker was also killed by the armed men when one of two ladies on the bullion van stepped out and ran in the deceased seller’s direction.

Four persons were later arrested in connection to the James Town bullion van robbery.

What is the way forward?

Following these reoccurrences, a security analyst, Adam Bona, advised the Ghana Police Service and Governor of the Bank of Ghana to end the practice of using police officers to escort bullion vans.

“Why should police officers in the 21st century be escorting money? This was done in the 18th and 19th centuries. No serious country does that. You don’t use state resources to be transporting money.

“Technology has made it possible to use armored-fit-for-purpose bullion vans and these bullion vans usually have what is called money shredders. And so if you attack a bullion van, that was in motion carrying money, what happens is that these bullion vans ignite a chemicalized component that spills over this money and a chunk of this money gets shredded,” he said.

Bankers embrace new reforms after meeting with stakeholders

The Ghana Association of Bankers (GAB) assured the public that it would comply with the new Cash-in-Transit (CIT) operations requiring armoured vehicles.

This is to ensure the protection of banking staff, customers, service providers, including personnel of the Ghana Police Service, cash and other facilities of banks.

The association also assured that it would continue to work closely with the various security agencies and the Bank of Ghana (BoG) in ensuring adherence to the highest standards in carting huge cash.