Thieves break into CEPS, IRS offices at Wa

Wa, Jan. 19, GNA - A gang of thieves who on Saturday tied up two night watchmen and broke into the offices of Customs, Excise and Preventive Service (CEPS) and Internal Revenue Service (IRS) with the hope of stealing valuable items and money, left the premises with anger and disappointment.

Apart from taking a total of 780,000 cedis from two separate drawers and safes of the offices of the IRS, the thieves could not carry any other thing of great significance.

Narrating the incident to the Ghana News Agency in an interview at Wa on Wednesday, Mr. Yao Dela Tchorly, Wa Sector Commander of CEPS said the thieves broke into all their offices and ransacked the drawers and safes of the Commander Accountant among others but could not get anything meaningful.

He said they could however not break the safe in his office but dragged it up to the door of his office and left it there. "My brother, because we generate revenue people think we keep physical cash here which is far from it, we know how dangerous it is to keep money in our offices," he told the GNA.

He said the incident had been reported to the police who had intensified their investigations to get the culprits to book. On his part, Mr. Enoch Sarpong, Regional Accountant of IRS said they ransacked his office and the Regional Manager's office but succeeded in getting 300,000 at another office.

"We mostly do administrative work here and not physical cash, so it is impossible for us to keep huge sums of money in the office," he told the GNA.

He said they also broke into a store room and made away with provisions like milk and beverages for staff. When the GNA contacted the police they confirmed the story but said it was pre-mature to give details of their investigations.