People who travel at an ungodly hour (between 1:00am and 3:00am) should be extra careful when boarding a vehicle with mostly women on board as passengers.

The reason is that, there has been a paradigm shift in the mode of operations of armed robbers in the country, especially at Kasoa and its surrounding communities in the Central Region.

These criminal fully dress like women by putting on wigs and brassieres and sit in commercial vehicles (trotro) pretending to be passengers in order to outwit the police and use their feminine dress style to trap unsuspecting victims and rob them.

Madam Atta Nsiah, a trader at AssinAnyinabrim near AssinFosu also in the Central Region revealed these to The Spectator during a funeral at AkyemAnweam near Kade in the Eastern Region last Saturday.

She said that one of her bosom friends who is a trader and resident of Kasoa got up in the wee hours of the morning about two weeks ago to go and transact business at Bawjiase was attacked by armed robbers who dressed like women on board a Bawjiase bound commercial vehicle.

According to the source, her friend, upon seeing those in the vehicle thought they were genuine female passengers who were also going towards Bawjiase for business.

But to her surprise, the driver took a different route near a cemetery on the Kasoa-Bawjiase road and drove the vehicle into the bush where the so-called passengers showed their true identity as armed robbers.

Madam Nsiah said her friend told her that no sooner had the vehicle stooped than the occupants removed their wigs and brassieres, and pulled out machetes and guns ordering her to surrender her mobile phone and a handbag containing an unspecified amount of money.

She further said that her friend resisted at first but had to give in when the robbers slashed her back two times.  It was then she realised how dangerous the terrain was.

She said the armed robbers left the victim in the bush far away from the Kasoa-Bawjiase main road and sped off.

The victim trekked the long distance to the road side before getting a vehicle back to Kasoa where she is presently nursing her wounds and counting her losses having contracted a loan from bank for her business

By Castro Zangina-Tong