Notorious armed robber, Johnson Kombian aka Burger, as been arraigned before an Accra Circuit Court after his arrest and extradition from Togo.
The three-time jail breaker, who is alleged to have killed two policemen and wounded another at Nakpanduri in October 2010, has been charged with Escape from Lawful Custody, contrary to Section 226 of Act 29/60. He has been remanded in custody and will reappear in Circuit Court 1, presided over by Eric Kyei Baffour on December 8, 2010.
Kombian escaped on January 15, 2010 from the Tamale Central Prisons where he was serving a 5 year jail term for a previous escape while awaiting trial for robbery and attempted murder and went into hiding in Nakpanduri. The 35-year-old man, referred to as the Nakpanduri Terror, escaped to Togo after an abortive attempt by the police to effect his arrest, days after he fatally shot two policemen and wounded another. The police attempt led to the burning down of a number of houses in the town, but no arrests.In addition to the murder and injury to the policemen, Kombian was wanted to face trial in a number of other
cases, including robbery, attempted murder, possession of firearms without lawful authority, escaping from lawful custody, failing to report on licence and stealing. However, he has only been charged for now with escape from lawful custody.He had escaped twice from the Tamale Prisons, twice from Togo and once from the Gambaga Prisons and is alleged to have been terrorising residents of Gambaga, Nalerigu and Nakpanduri.
He was finally overpowered in Togo by the Togolese security forces on Friday November 19, 2010 and handed over to the Head of Interpol in Ghana, Chief Superintendent Edward Tabiri and Chief Suprintendent Ayikambe Yakubu, Special Operations Assistant, under heavy security at Aflao on Sunday November 21, 2010.
But, in the latest twist in the case, the suspect is said to have told police interrogators he was assisted by a Prison Officer he could name in his successful bid to escape from the Tamale Prison.
According to the particulars of the offence as signed by Chief Inspector Williams Anoff Amoani, Kombian “admitted escaping from lawful custody and further mentioned that he was aided by a prison officer whom he can identify. According to him, the prison officer provided him with a knife and a handcuff key which aided him to escape.”
