According to media reports, men of the Ghana Police Service have shot and killed a total of 10 armed robbers this month alone.

Of the 10, seven were killed just last weekend - six were gunned down in a shoot-out with the Police at Beyinase on the Obuasi-Anwiankwanta road, while the seventh met his waterloo at Asante-Mampong, both in the Ashanti Region. The first three others had earlier been terminated on January 15, two at the regional police headquarters and one at Esaase, near Akropong.

Four days later, on January 19, nine lucky suspected armed robbers were arrested by the Police, with the man who was allegedly funding their operations, probably for a percentage of their loot.

The Chronicle is happy that thus far, the Ashanti Regional Police Command seems to be on top of the challenge posed by the robbers and hope that they would continue to be focussed and not lose concentration.

But we are worried and saddened to hear that some of the nine arrested suspects were convicts who had been freed under suspicious circumstances and given a fresh lease of life to terrorise law-abiding citizenry.

Convicts are supposed to be in prison; so who opened the gate for them to walk out of the prison yard. The Chronicle expects that the police would liaise with the prison authorities to ascertain why convicts are released and allowed back into circulation prematurely.

The Chronicle similarly expects that the nine other Regional Police Commands, based on the news from the Ashanti region, have procured buckets of water and are keeping watch over their beards in order to prevent it from catching fire. They must be forearmed that armed robbery is a national phenomenon and not a regional one.

They should not fail, should the need arise.