Police Intercept Stolen Cables

The police have intercepted two vehicles loaded with stolen Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) cables valued at $35,000 at Okponglo, near Legon.

Seven men, including three Nigerians, who are alleged to be behind the stolen goods have also been arrested and they are currently assisting the police in their investigations.

They are Danjumah Abdul Karim, driver of one of the vehicles, Haruna Khaba, his mate, James Ziggy, Jeron Anyaogu, Emeka Ngbobuma, John Aggar and Ibrahim Danjumah.

The two trucks, one with a Ghanaian registration number, VR 50 U, and the other bearing a Nigerian registration number, SN-115-EKY Lagos, were spotted near the traffic lights at Okponglo.

The truck with the Ghanaian registration number was spotted on Sunday evening offloading the underground and overhead cables, which had been covered with biscuits, asbestos and scraps, onto the Nigerian truck.

According to Chief Superintendent Angwubotuge Awuni, the Nima Divisional Police Commander, the police had a tip-off on Sunday evening that some people were offloading goods from one truck to another and they looked suspicious.

He said a team of policemen from the Legon Police Station was immediately dispatched to the scene, where it found one of the drivers of the vehicles and three others who were arrested and taken to the police station for questioning.

He said some policemen were left behind to guard the goods. One of the suspects, James Ziggy, went there and tried to bribe the policemen to drop the case and he too was arrested.

Chief Superintendent Awuni said as Ziggy was being taken to the station, he spotted two men at the Okponglo Junction trying to board a vehicle and he pointed them out as accomplices so they were also arrested.

The ECG Divisions Manager, Urban Projects, Mr S. Boakye Appiah, said for about six months now there had been incidents of cable thefts at various ECG sites and installations in Accra, Kumasi and Tema, adding that those thefts were being investigated by the police.

He said the underground cables in the truck had ECG embossed on them, which confirmed that they belonged to the company.

He appealed to members of the public to report suspicious characters with cables to the police and the ECG.

Story by Mary Mensah