Three field engineers, including an engineer from Vodafone Ghana Limited, have been arrested for stealing Vodafone cables valued GH¢44,640.
Suspect Dickson Boamah, 41, the engineer from Vodafone Ghana Limited, together with his accomplices—Alfred Yeboah, 45, and Akwesi Boateng, 38—allegedly stole the cables from the Dansoman substation on July 9, 2015.
Three other suspects, namely Charles Coffie, 45, Kwame Adu, 29, and Kwadjo Appiah, 26—all scrap dealers—who bought the stolen goods, have also been arrested for dishonestly receiving stolen goods.
They are all in the custody of the Amasaman District Police assisting in investigations.
Confirming the arrest to DAILY GUIDE, DSP Elvis Bawa Sadongo, the Amasaman District Police Commander, said suspect Dickson Boamah is a field engineer of Vodafone Ghana while suspects Yeboah and Boateng were only contracted to work.
Information gathered indicated that Vodafone Ghana wanted to change its cables from copper to fiber.
The telecommunication company therefore went into an agreement with Huawei, a Chinese company, to remove their copper cables from the ground, value them and export them to China in exchange for the fiber cables.
Some field engineers were contracted by Huawei to help Vodafone’s engineers remove the copper cables from the ground for exportation to China.
The three suspects, who were part of the field engineers employed by Huawei, often diverted some of the copper cables they removed and later sold them to scrap dealers.
After stealing the copper cables from the Dansoman substation where they were working, the three transported the copper cables to Amasaman to melt the rubber from the copper in the bush.
While burning the cables, some residents in the area, who were wondering what was happening due to the thick smoke emanating from the bush , went to the area to spy on the suspects.
A retired police officer, who was among the residents who visited the area to find out what was amiss, reported the matter to the Amasaman police who stormed the scene and arrested the suspects.
While investigations were ongoing, police discovered that Charles Coffie, Kwame Adu and Kwadjo Appiah had negotiated with the suspects and consequently made a part payment of GH¢3,000 for the stolen goods, promising to pay the rest of the agreed fee of GH¢8,000 upon receipt of the goods.
Officials of Vodafone Ghana Limited, when invited by the police, pegged the value of the stolen cables at GH¢44, 640.
Suspects Yeboah, Boateng and Boamah have been provisionally charged for conspiracy to commit crime and stealing while suspects Coffie, Adu and Appiah have also been charged for dishonestly receiving stolen items.
They will be put before court soon for prosecution.
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