Woman 52, others arrested for stealing

A 52-year-old woman has been arrested together with two others for allegedly stealing assorted items worth hundreds of Ghana Cedis at La, a suburb of Accra and its environs.

Madam Agnes Quaye and her accomplices, including Richard Annan, 33-year-old driver and Richard Asare 32, a mason, were alleged to have been moving from store to store to steal assorted items and later sell them to ready customers.

Suspects have allegedly been in the business for the past three months and have operated in various locations such as Kasoa, Adenta, Amasaman, Weija, Mallam, among others.

Briefing DAILY GUIDE, DSP Cecilia Arko, the La District Crime Officer, said the suspects were apprehended in the act by members of the La neighbourhood watch committee and later handed over to the police Wednesday morning.

The suspects were said to be operating with a Hyundai Verna taxi cab with registration number GT 5272-12 and driven by Richard Annan.

According to DSP Arko, the suspects target shops along some roads and streets. When they approach a store, Agnes and Asare get down while Annan, the driver, remains seated in the car waiting.

Agnes and Asare will then approach the attendant in the store and pretend to be in need of something. While the shop attendant is busily attending to one of them, the other person quickly packs any valuable items he or she can lay hands on and returns to the car.

The one who will be engaging the attendant continues to talk with him or her for a while and later leaves to join the others in the waiting vehicle.

The suspects will then move to another store and repeat their action until they retire in the evening.

They then sell the stolen items to ready customers in Accra.

DSP Cecilia Arko Annan said the taxi driver then deducts his daily sales from the proceeds before the rest of the money is shared equally.

Suspects have allegedly used this method to steal several pieces of cloth, bales of used clothing, assorted wines, credit cards and many more.

Around 7:00 am last Wednesday, they purportedly approached a provision shop attendant and Asare pretended to be buying a sachet of water, and while he was being served, Agnes allegedly took a school bag containing credit cards and went back to sit in the taxi.

A member of the La neighbourhood watch committee who spotted the suspect carring the bag into the taxi, called the attention of his colleagues.

Together with Emmanuel Nartey Kwapong, the suspects were given a hot chase through La to Tse Addo, behind the Trade Fair Centre before they were apprehended.

Kwapong told DAILY GUIDE that it took over two hours to finally grab the suspects.

At a distance, suspects allegedly threw the bag out onto the road to obstruct the committee from further chasing them, but they still pursued the suspects until they were grabbed.

DSP Arko said upon interrogation, suspects admitted to the act and further mentioned Koforidua and Kumasi as some of the places they also operated.

They disclosed that they sometimes get from Ghc150 to Ghc200 each day – depending on the items that they would steal.

Suspects will be put before court soon, DSP Arko said.