Five men have been arrested for allegedly breaking into the house of a pastor and his prophetess wife and robbing them of GH47,000 being proceeds from their annual church harvest on Sunday.
Emmanuel Owusu, 25, Attah Amoah, 32, George Mensah, 48, James Darko, 19, and YAW Afrifa, (alias Maputo), 23 broke into the house of Pastor James Okyere, 49, and his wife, Akosua Serwaa, 35, founders of the Fire Blood Ministry at Atwima Manhyia, near Abuakwa in the Ashanti Region, and stole the money wrapped in a black polythene bag and kept at a corner of the house.
The Atwima Divisional Police Commander, Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) Ofosu Agyeman, who confirmed this at a press briefing in Kumasi yesterday, said the church’s end-of-year harvest was held in the fenced house since the church’s auditorium was still under construction.
The couple after the event wrapped the money in the polythene bag and placed it safely in the corner.
The five suspects, who had monitored the operations of the church and the couple, and knew that the harvest money was not taken to the bank, stormed the house at about 1 a.m. on Monday, with machetes, a pair of scissors and sticks.
They assaulted the couple, who were forced to surrender the money, robbed them of it and fled.
The pastor lodged a complaint to the police in the morning, and the police managed to locate the suspects and arrest them.
ACP Ofosu-Agyemang, advised people, particularly religious leaders, to refrain from keeping such large sums of monies at home, since it could attract armed robbers.
He instructed that they rather send church harvest, offering and tithes straight to the bank after every church service.
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