Three persons using a blue-black Nissan Navara pickup truck with registration number GX 727-15, labelled “State Protocol Office of The President” have been arrested by the Assin Praso Police for allegedly stealing backup batteries and other items from the cell sites of Glo Ghana.
Police got a tip off that the three, aged between 25 and 35, had vandalized several Glo cell sites and stolen backup batteries and other, fire extinguishers and earthing cables.
The Police said caught up with them after they had stolen some of the items at the Glo cell site at Assin Asempanaye and more than 20 backup batteries belonging to Glo Ghana were found in their vehicle, which had the “State Protocol Office of The President” sticker on the windscreen, ostensibly to facilitate smooth passage at various Police check points.
Information reaching Adom News indicate on February 15, 2017, twelve backup batteries were stolen at a Glo cell site in Assin Anyinabrim in the Central Region, following which security guards at other Glo sites were put on high alert.
On February 16,m2017, a day after the Anyinabrim theft incident, a security guard at another Glo cell site Assin Asempanaye in the Assin North District spotted a blue black Nissan Navara pick up leaving his site after he had gone for lunch. Upon checks at the site, he realized the backup battery compartment had been vandalized and 12 batteries stolen.
The guard quickly alerted the site Engineer and they hired a taxi cab to track the vehicle.
Upon reaching Assin Assin Praso Police checkpoint, the security guard informed the Police officers who in turn sent a wireless message to their colleagues at other Police checkpoints along the Assin Fosu-Kumasi highway.
Upon that tipoff, the police men at the Hwiremoase checkpoint near Obuasi junction arrested and detained the three young men who allegedly offered to pay the police over GHC1000 as bribe but the policemen declined.
A search conducted on the vehicle revealed more than 20 backup batteries and other items concealed in the bucket of the pick up.
The suspects allegedly admitted to stealing the items and are now in the custody of the Assin Praso Police pending further investigation.
Meanwhile, Adom News gathered that for the past two years, many Glo cell sites dotted along the Accra-Cape Coast-Kumasi Highway have been vandalized and more than 500 backup batteries and other items estimated at about GHC1million have been stolen.
The backup batteries serve as alternative power source to sustain the cell sites in the event of ECG power outage to enable customers communicate continuously without experiencing call drop.