CABLE STEALING GANG ON REMAND (MIRROR, PAGE 35, DEC 11, 2010)

From George Ernest Asare, Kumasi

A mobile phone repairer, based at Nsuta, near Mampong, Maxwell Akwasi Tuffour, alias Man, alleged to have conspired with six others to steal quantities of high tension electricity cables and underground telephone cables, belonging to the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) and Vodafone Ghana, has been remanded into prison custody, pending further investigations.
The items, estimated at GH¢1,023,000 were detected to have been stolen in October this year and a tip off led to the arrest of Tuffour and his accomplices.
The suspects are Kwesi Yeboah, alias Sagacious, a drinking bar operator based at Nsuta, near Mampong, Kwadjo Antwi, an electrical engineer, Kwadjo Amponsem, Kwadjo Gyemfi and Yussif Abubakari all electricians and Iklilu Mohammed, a scrap dealer.
While Tuffour and Yeboah were charged with dishonestly receiving and possession of firearms and ammunitions without lawful authority, the others were charged with dishonestly receiving when they appeared before a Kumasi Circuit court, presided over by Mr. Emmanuel Amoo-Yartey.
A search conducted by the police in an uncompleted house belonging to Tuffour on October 29, 2010, led to the retrieval of some of the stolen high-tension and underground telephone cables. Also found in the house were locally manufactured pistol and live cartridges.
They all pleaded not guilty to the charges when they appeared before the court. They would reappear before the court in two weeks time.
Presenting the facts before the court, a State Attorney, Mr Emmanuel Lawrence Otoo-Boison, said the ECG and Vodafone had in recent times been complaining to the police about theft of their cables within the Asante Mampong-Nsuta Municipality.
He said on October 28, 2010, the police had a tip -off that Tuffour and three others now at large were the culprits, and based on the information, the police arrested Tuffour and conducted a search in his uncompleted house at Nsuta.
Mr Otoo-Boison said when questioned about the items found in the house, Tuffour mentioned Yeboah as the owner of the pistol and cartridges and also mentioned Mohammed as the one who had been buying the stolen cables from him.
He said when the police arrested Mohammed in his uncompleted storey building at Mampong, they found large quantities of the cables cut into pieces and heaped in one of his rooms.
Mr Otoo-Boison said Mohammed in his caution statement to the police, admitted the offence, but mentioned Antwi who is a sub contractor and his three employees, namely Amponsem, Gyemfi and Abubakari as his accomplices.
He explained that the sub contractor and his employees were responsible for replacing high tension cables from Neuter to Kwaman for the ECG and they used the opportunity to allegedly steal the items and sell to the private land developers.
He said when Yeboah was also arrested on November 1, 2010, he claimed ownership of the locally manufactured pistol found with Tuffour but vehemently denied any knowledge about the cartridges.
He said when officials of the ECG and Vodafone were invited to inspect the items retrieved from the suspects, they admitted that they were their property and based on that the suspects were hauled into the court while investigations continued.