Four men believed to be part of a phone snatching syndicate operating around Tema have been arrested and are cooling off in the cells of the Tema Police.
The suspects have been identified as John Hackman, alias Abeiku, 22, a driver who doubles as mechanic, Yaw Antwi, alias Ogeze, 19, a coconut seller, Prince Boadi, alias Venza, 18, unemployed and Jacob Asiamah, alias King Promise, a 25-year-old phone repairer.
According to the police, it is King Promise who unlocks most of the stolen phones brought to him by his accomplices and sometimes buys and sells some of them.
They were arrested by the Tema Police on Wednesday, April 21, 2021 at Ashaiman in the Greater Accra Region.
Chief Inspector Stella Dede Dzakpasu, spokeswoman of the Tema Regional Police Command, told DAILY GUIDE that the suspects were apprehended after they had snatched an iPhone 12 Pro from a victim at Adenta, Accra while the victim was seated in the backseat of a vehicle.
She said that the owner of the phone tracked it to their hideout in Misusokope, a rented apartment at Lebanon Zone 4, Ashaiman, where he met two of the suspects and informed police who rushed to the location to arrest the suspects.
Some of the suspects, she said, have admitted being part of the phone snatching syndicate.
The modus operandi, according to the police officer, is to target victims who fidget with their phones on the streets and those in moving vehicles.
She said the arrested suspects have named other accomplices who are being wanted by the police, adding that the arrested suspects would be charged before court after investigations.
The Tema Police Command, therefore, cautioned mobile phone users to be on the lookout for phone snatchers while using their phones in public.
From Vincent Kubi, Tema