Student fined for tapping phone line

Accra, Aug. 31, GNA - A student who tapped Ghana Telecom Pay phone line and used it to make several foreign and local calls without paying any bills was on Tuesday fined one million cedis by a Circuit Court in Accra.

Bright Amoh, who pleaded guilty will in default go to jail for six months.

Amoh was charged with using frequency not allocated or assigned by authority and causing damage to communication equipment. He was further ordered to pay 500,000 cedis as compensation to Ghana Telecom or in default serve a three-month jail term. Amoh would also sign a bond to be of good behaviour for a period six months.

The case for prosecution was that on July 15 at about 2200 hours, Mr Daniel Agoe, an employee of Ghana Post, Tema and his friends saw four young men sitting near an uncompleted building which had a Ghana Payphone Booth close to it at Nungua.

Mr Agoe and his pals noticed that an unusual cable from the phone booth shed had been connected through the bush to the uncompleted building with some men busily talking on a landline hand set. They became suspicious and questioned the men about their acts. The men took to their heels and Amoh who was busily making a call was apprehended. A report was made to the offices of Ghana Telecom and teams from its Fraud Management Unit were dispatched to the scene. Prosecution said the team discovered that three payphone lines with 02-710139 located at the Nautical College area in Nungua were damaged and the convict and his accomplices had made foreign and local calls without paying any bills.