Four Held Over Stolen Vehicle

Story by Moses Dotsey Aklorbortu

The Criminal Investigations Department unit at the Takoradi Central Police Station in the Western Region has arrested four teenagers as they attempted to sell a stolen 19-seater 207 Mercedes Benz, valued at ¢150 million, for a token ¢40 million.

The teenage suspects — Yao Amoako, 19, a driver’s mate in the stolen vehicle; Patrick Ali (aka Dodzi), 19; Ebenezer Ansah, 19; Samuel Opong (aka Paa Kwaw), 18 — were said to have stolen the vehicle from Alajo in Accra and drove it to Takoradi to sell it.

The vehicle, with registration number GW 9782 X, had its number plate removed and its ignition system destroyed. The suspects joined wires to start the engine.

The deal was said to have been masterminded by the mate of the said bus who confessed to the police.
The name of the original driver of the bus was given only as Master JB and the owner, as written on the driver’s side of the vehicle, is Abdule Rauf Abubakar of Madina in Accra.

According to the one who offered to buy the vehicle, he received a call from an accomplice in Takoradi that he had a vehicle for sale and priced it for between ¢60 million and ¢100 million.

The prospective buyer said when he saw the vehicle, he realised it had once been registered and the seats inside were not original.

“I asked the boys for the papers and Amoako, who said he was the leader of the gang, said it was a connection vehicle, that he could not produce the papers immediately and that I should find a way of registering it in my name”.

The buyer, whose name is being withheld, told the Daily Graphic, “I entered the vehicle but I realised that its ignition system had been destroyed,” he said.

“I negotiated the price from ¢100 million to ¢40 million and when they were pressing for the money, I called the police who came in to effect their arrest,” he said.

Upon interrogation, Amoako said he was Master JB’s mate and that after the close of the day’s business at 10.00 p.m. on Friday, he had informed Dodzi, who was also an expert in joining wires to start a vehicle and could also drive, about the plan to steal the vehicle.

He said their accomplices in Takoradi, Samuel Opong and Ebenezer Ansah, had also by then completed arrangements for the sale of the vehicle.

According to Amoako, Dodzi, who lived near the Railway Station in Accra, went to his (Amoako’s) residence at Odawna in Accra and they moved to Alajo where the vehicle had been parked and drove it to Takoradi, where Opong and Asare were waiting to take them to the buyer.

Asked how they managed to fuel the vehicle, Amoako said they took passengers and used the fare to buy diesel.
The police are trying to locate the owner and the driver of the vehicle in Accra.

When contacted, the Crime Officer in charge of the Takoradi Central Police Station, Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) Dela Dzansi, said the four suspects and the vehicle were being transferred to Accra for further investigations.