Four persons have been arrested and put before court for allegedly stealing nine drums of cables belonging to the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG), valued at GH¢419,400.
The suspects, Annor Daniel and Kwasi Andrews, both Ghanaians, are third-party contractors of the ECG while Lucky Grayson Eseche, 34, and Obi Innocent, 37, both Nigerians, are businessmen who bought the stolen cables from the ECG contractors.
The four were arrested following a tip-off that three drums of cables were being offloaded into an electrical shop which is operated by the two Nigerians in Tema.
The court document indicates that the cables were given to the third-party contractors who were engaged by the ECG on their farming-out project to undertake meter replacements.
“As a result, they are supplied with materials by their respective ECG District Offices, in this case, Legon and Kwabenya, to carry out the projects,” the fact sheet stated as reported by the Daily Guide newspaper.
The contractors ended up selling some of the cables handed to them by the ECG for the meter replacement exercise to the other accused persons at GH¢8 per meter instead of GH¢23 as quoted by the company.
Before their arrest in Tema, Lucky Grayson Eseche was seen spraying one drum of cable to conceal the ECG tag on it.
Court documents indicate that Lucky Grayson Eseche and Obi Innocent, during their arrest, admitted the offence and indicated that they got the cables from a person of interest whom they identified as Lord.
Annor Daniel and Kwasi Andrews are said to have also admitted giving the drums of cables to the said Lord to sell to Obi Innocent and also confirmed that the cables they sold were materials given to them by the ECG to carry out the projects.
The Electricity Company Hana has vowed to crack down on cable thieves whose activities are costing the company colossal losses and also affecting the power supply.
Director of Investigation, Prosecution and Security at ECG, Paul Asibi Abariga, addressing the media, stated that the company is all out this time not just on power theft but every form of theft-related issues to the company that increases its losses.
“The general public should just know that you cannot do a thing such as this against the ECG and go scot-free. We are very vigilant now and we are watching everywhere,” he said.
Mr Abariga further stated, “Ghanaians should know that we are working very assiduously to make sure that the distribution of power in this country is stabilised.”
He added that the company is on the move and gradually they are going to get everybody who is on their radar arrested, therefore, cautioning the citizens to desist from interfering in the operations of the company which affects the efficient distribution of power.
Source: https://energynewsafrica.com