Three persons were on Wednesday remanded by an Accra Circuit Court for robbing three drivers of their taxis.

Francis Opoku Gyau, Michael Donkor and Urey Harris Koufie were said to have conspired with three others now at large and robbed their victims at gun point.

They all pleaded not guilty to the charges but were remanded by the court presided over by Mr Aboaye Tandoh to reappear on Thursday October 6.

The facts of the case as presented by Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Patience Mario are that the complainant in this case Johnson Brako, Solomon Appiah and Eric Baidoo are all taxi drivers.

She said the accused persons together with five others now at large invaded the Weija Jurisdiction in May and robbed the three complainants of their Opel, Hyundai and Nissan March taxis at gun point.

She said on May 2, Johnson, was hired by one Daniel from Kumasi to Accra and on their way he called one Nana Yaw to meet them at Achimota.

The complainant got to Achimota around 1900 hours and the said Nana Yaw joined them and asked the complainant to drive them to West Hills Mall in Weija to meet their business partner.

The prosecution said just as they were about to reach the West Hills Mall a 4X4 vehicle crossed them and asked the complainant to stop. Francis who was in mufti alighted together with his colleague police officer who was armed with AK 47 assault rifle and arrested Daniel and the complainant into their vehicle and sped off leaving Nana Yaw and the taxi Opel Astra behind.

DSP Mario said the complainant was later abandoned at an unknown place in Lapaz, and asked to go for his vehicle but the vehicle was nowhere to be found when he got to the scene.

She told the court that on May 12, the second complainant, Solomon was also hired from Abuakwai in Kumasi to Nkrumah Nkwata, by Michael and his two accomplices. They decided to proceed to Accra for some gold business and thus asked the second complainant to drive them to Accra.

They arrived in Accra around 2100 hours and decided to lodge at a Hotel at New Aplaku in Weija by name Chequers Lodge.

The complainant parked his taxi Hyundai Accent at the hotel and together with the Michael and two other decided to purchase fried egg just in front of the hotel.

According to the prosecution, whiles there, a police officer in uniform holding a gun alighted from a taxi and arrested the complainant and one other into the taxi and sent them to an area where they were interrogated and later asked the second complainant to go for his vehicle as he is not involved in the case.

She said on reaching the Chequers Lodge Hotel the complainant realised that his taxi was not there as well as the second accused who was left behind.

DSP Mario said on May 25, the third complainant Eric Baidoo was also hired by Urey from Kasoa in the company of the two others to Lapaz.

On reaching an area in Weija called Machigani one of them pulled a gun on the complainant and forcibly brought the vehicle to a halt.

She said they pulled the third complainant out of the vehicle and quickly drove off in his Nissan March cab. All the three complainants lodged their respective report to Weija police for investigation.

On August 28, information got to the Weija police that some car snatchers including some police officers have been arrested and some vehicles retrieved from them.

She said the three complainants were invited and during the identification parade held, the accused persons were identified by the first, second, and the third complainant as one of their taxis.

The vehicles Opel Astra B, Hyundai Accent and Nissan March taxis were not found among the retrieved vehicles.

The accused persons however, denied the offence in their various cautioned statements but they were charged with the offence after investigations.

GNA