The thieves pretended to be sleeping in front of the shop by mounting a mosquito net
Thieves in Takoradi in the Western Region have adopted ‘homeless’ approach to steal from shops in the metropolis.
The thieves, who hide under the guise of spending a night in front of shops, mount mosquito nets at the gate to obscure the frontage from people.
They then take advantage of the situation to cut open a part of the metal gate to enter and loot the contents of the shop.
On Thursday April 12, 2018 a leading mobile phone retail shop, Simpleman Mobile Phones, at the Takoradi Market Circle was robbed by thieves who employed this new approach.
The thieves succeeded in stealing all the expensive phones at the shop, including the latest Samsung S9 and S9+ phones which cost GHC3,700 and GHC4,400 respectively per one.
Deputy Manager of the shop, Solomon Ofori, said when they arrived to open their shop Thursday morning, they saw that a mosquito net has been left hanging in front the gate to the shop.
“We were surprised because we have not seen such before. As we approached the gate we saw that a section of the gate where the net is hanging has been cut open. We got alarmed and informed the police,” he told Connect FM.
He continued that “when we opened the shop, we were shocked at what we saw. All our expensive phones were gone.
“The phones were Samsung S9 and S9+, Note 8, Nokia and Infinix. For the Samsung Js all of them have been stolen” he said.
According to eye witnesses, they saw some young men sleeping in the mosquito net three days prior to the incident but did not suspect any foul play as that has been the norm in front of many stores at the Market Circle at night.
The Takoradi Market Circle Police Station has since commenced investigation into the break in.
