THREE ARRESTED OVER CABLE THEFT ... (Page 23)

Story: George Ernest Asare, Obuasi

THE Management of AngloGold Ashanti heaved a sigh of relief when members of the Ahansonyewodea Community Watchdog committee in the Obuasi municipality succeeded in arresting three middle-aged persons suspected to belong to a gang that had been causing havoc to the mining company by setting fire to electric cables and destroying their facilities.
The suspects who were arrested around 2.30 am on Tuesday, January 8, 2008 during a night patrol by the members have already been handed over to the police to assist in their investigations.
They were identified as Kofi Mfum, 40, a painter and a native of Tutuka in Obuasi, Ibrahim Adams 48, who claims to be ‘galamseyer’ from Brahabebome, also in the Obuasi municipality, and Kwabena Frimpong, a 38-year-old native of Tutuka who claims also to be a farmer.
Briefing the Daily Graphic about the arrest, a police source said in the course of their patrols, the committee members saw the suspects carrying quantities of cables at a secluded area belonging to the mining company.
The source said before the members could make any move to arrest them, the suspects threw away the cables and other equipment suspected to have been stolen from the premises of the mining company.
According to the source, the sudden escape of the suspects raised the suspicion of the committee members so they did not pursue the suspects but rather laid ambush hoping that the suspects would return to take away their booty.
The source said the patience of the committee members paid off when after waiting for two hours, they saw the three suspects walking stealthily towards the area where they earlier dumped the cables and other equipment.
They said the members surrounded and arrested the three and when they searched Kofi Mfum who was carrying a sack, they saw a shifting spanner, a hoe, tester, tape-measure, a saw-blade, peeled copper and a shovel.
The police source said one of the suspects, Kwabena Frimpong attempted to bribe the member with GH¢13, but the members refused and took them to the mine security who after initial investigations handed them to the police.
Last week, unidentified men suspected to belong to a gang of galamseyers, set fire to electric cables of AngloGold Ashanti causing extensive damage to transformers and causing power cut to the deep mines where some miners were by then working.
The incident affected operations of the Adansi Shaft of the deep mines causing the shaft to break down and trapping 37 miners who were by then working 4000 feet underground.
After about 12 hours in the deep mines, the authorities of the mines succeeded in restoring power to rescue the miners amid jubilation by their family members who had by then gathered at the mining centre and praying for their safety.
The managing director of the company, Mr John Miller, at a news conference at Obuasi on Friday, January 4, 2008, estimated the cost of equipment damaged to be between $500,000 to $1 million.