The Most Notorious Armed Robber in Ghana Retires from Capture

On February 28, 2005, Choice FM, then Ghana's top talk show station, made the announcement that Ataa Ayi, the country's most sought armed robber, had been captured. Many people automatically wondered, "Who accomplished such a monumental feat?" The response came from ACP Nathan Kofi Boakye, who may have been the only member of staff at the station to know it. Of course, the distinguished policeman had called the station himself to inform them.

ACP Kofi Boakye later rose through the ranks to become the Commissioner of Police (COP), where he graciously retired last week at the age of 60. Kofi Boakye continued to succeed in the service after that. The position of ultimate Inspector General of Police (IGP), which he regrettably never held, would have been his next legal position. At the time he created the Ataa Ayi episode, he was the Greater Accra Regional Police Commander.COP Then Kofi Boakye stretched his reach into his native Ashanti Region and expertly apprehended 2PM, another of the most infamous crooks of our day. Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, the overlord of Asanteman, was overjoyed to have Kofi Boakye under his control.

Many security personnel who tried to catch 2PM had trouble catching him since he was so elusive and slippery. The infamous criminal thought Kofi Boakye and his gang's cunning and deliberate actions to arrest 2PM were a tremendous joke. That was his initial response when he learned that a certain new Ashanti Regional Police Commander had set him up as his intended target. He is unfamiliar with me. Will you not go warn him? To colleagues and linked groups, he boasted. Maybe those hangers-on didn't appropriately advise 2 PM either. Kofi Boakye is a typical Ashtown kid who, probably better than 2PM and his hoodlums, was familiar with the Asante landscape. Kumasi's suburb of Ashtown.

Except for his apprentices and other protégé thieves, the Ashanti monster had turned the Abuakwa residential area into his own personal domain. Nobody dared to report him or approach him there. There is a legend around the identity of 2PM, and after being apprehended by the then-commander of the Ashanti Regional Police, he stated: "Before my arrest, I never believed any human born of a woman could arrest me because of my involvement in mysticism."

Ataa Ayi was apprehended by COP Boakye and his men in Teshie, an Accra neighborhood, as he dried his clothes. Ataa Ayi had previously been referred to as Ghana's most wanted and renowned criminal. At that time, Raymond Ataa Ayi had made travel arrangements for Germany. Kofi Boakye stated that "with the arrest of Ataa Ayi, a whole generation of armed robbers has been wiped off." Numerous people of Ataa Ayi's types looked up to him for guidance and inspiration.

As a result of then-ACP Kofi Boakye's arrest of several of Ataa Ayi's trainees, the very foundation that fostered robbers was destroyed. Ataa Ayi had carried out one of the deadliest heists by robbing Dora Kumi of $65,000.00 and GHC4500 on February 5, 2003, before he ultimately met his match. Ataa Ayi received a sentence of 100 years in prison for his ongoing robbery activities and 40 years for the specific robbery he committed against the businesswoman.

In the case of 2PM, he asserted that he had armed himself so thoroughly in a foreign nation that he no longer feared firearms, any kind of ammo, or the men in Black. Thus, he made his way back to Ghana where he founded a legendary gang that he had educated under duress in the art of thievery. Once more, 2PM had nearly the whole top-tier of the Ashanti Police Service at his disposal. That implies that before any attempt to apprehend him could be made, he would be informed about it.

Kofi Boakye, the recently appointed Police Commander in the Ashanti Region, was able to compile all of the information that was available on 2 PM and used it to outsmart the terror in the Ashanti Region. He was taken aback by Kofi Boakye's men, who were completely unknowing to him, according to 2PM. "I was arrested at Abuakwa by some unidentified police officers," he proclaimed. My source contacted to let me know about the operation, and I was shocked to see such inexperienced, young officers trying to invade my private.

"Who are these tiny police officers who wouldn't have called me before breaking into my home? That was how arrogant and self-assured I was. I believed I was absolutely untouchable. He then made the decision to exact retribution on the policemen who had insulted "His Lordship" 2PM. However, Kofi Boakye and his group had different ideas. They surrounded the entire Abuakwa township, and before 2 PM could consider attacking the policemen, he had unknowingly become entangled in the Kofi Boakye web, with the COP meeting the tough criminal face-to-face. There was nothing for it but to give up.

After holding practically all of the important positions in the Police Service—all save the Inspector General of Police position, which, but for political considerations, would have been the cherry on top of his glorious career that ended early this month—Kofi today retires from the Police Service with full honors.