FOUR REMANDED OVER CABLE THEFT

THREE private security men and a mason were on Monday remanded by the Accra circuit court for allegedly stealing a quantity of underground telephone wires belonging to Ghana Telecom.
The accused persons, namely, Cephas Kpewu, the mason, Francis Boateng, Dickson Ahiadeke and Godfred Nyarko, alias Opoman, all security men, pleaded not guilty to three counts of conspiracy, causing unlawful damage and stealing.
They will reappear on February 19, 2007.
According to the facts of the case as narrated by Chief Inspector Johnson K. Anim, the security men were in charge of the Ghana Telecom cable yard at Otanor, East Legon.
On December 28, 2006, the East Legon Police had information that some people were carrying some telephone cables away from the yard and when the police moved to the scene, they saw the mason offering a quantity of the cables, which had been cut into pieces, to a dealer as scrap.
Kpewu admitted the offence when he was interrogated and in his caution statement he mentioned the rest of the accused persons as accomplices.
However, on hearing that the mason had been arrested, the three men deserted their post and went into hiding until January 19, this year when Boateng was apprehended.
According to the prosecutor, Boateng denied the offence but stated having received ¢150,000 from Nyarko, their leader, as his share from a previous operation.
Ahiadeke and Nyarko, he said, were arrested on January 30 and February 10, 2007, respectively.