Dr. Justice Srem-Sai
Deputy Attorney General (AG), Dr. Justice Srem-Sai, has indicated that security agencies are working around the clock to uncover the syndicate behind the over 1,300 stolen containers at the Tema Port belonging to the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG).
According to him, statements taken from some suspects arrested so far has provided leads to the fact that a syndicate is behind the theft, and the security agencies are working to arrest their members.
Two companies, Dangfang Company Limited and Ponlok Manufacturing Company Limited, all located near Shai Hills in the Greater Accra Region have been fingered in the stolen containers.
They are allegedly involved in the melting of the missing high-tension cables belonging to ECG, leading to the arrest of 14 persons so far.
Dr. Srem-Sai has confirmed that 14 persons have so far been arrested – 11 Chinese nationals and three Ghanaians in connection with the theft.
They have all been granted police enquiry bail pending investigations.
“14 suspects have been arrested and 11 have identified themselves as Chinese nationals. The police officers have admitted the suspects to bail… the police have taken their passports to prevent them from leaving the country and have also asked them to produce persons that can stand sureties for them,” Dr. Srem-Sai told the press.
He added that “we want to also make it clear that investigations are still ongoing and these persons who have been arrested have given statements giving leads to further investigations to be conducted, and we believe that this is a syndicate and there are more people in the syndicate that the police are working to arrest.”
The Deputy Attorney General encouraged the general public to volunteer information leading to the arrest of suspects and uncovering this crime against the republic.
“Millions of Cedis are lost because of this, and the law enforcement agencies as well as the Office of the Attorney General are really ready to go to the bottom of this and bring the culprits and perpetrators to book,” Dr. Srem-Sai added.
‘Flying Containers’
Meanwhile, former Minister for Defence, Dominic Nitiwul has questioned the security apparatus at the Tema Port in the wake of the theft that has shocked the nation.
According to him, containers do not have legs nor do they have wings to fly, wondering how such a huge number of containers could disappear at the port without anyone noticing it.
“Containers do not have legs, they do not have wings to fly. Nobody can carry a 40-feet container. How is it possible that all the security people there, it doesn’t matter what time and then these containers will move,” he asked while contributing to the issue on the floor of Parliament.
“First, they’re 10 containers. The next day, 20 containers. The next day, 50 containers, to over thousand something container. How? How is it possible?” he queried.
Mr. Nitiwul further asked, “How is that possible? How is that possible? That says something. Maybe something is happening at the port. Maybe something bigger is happening at the port. If containers can get missing, then you can imagine other things that are there. Explosives, drugs, different, different things.”
BY Gibril Abdul Razak