Six arrested for stealing rail tracks

SIX men who allegedly stole 43 rail tracks belonging to the Ghana Railway Company Limited (GRCL) have been apprehended at Anyinam in the Atiwa District of the Eastern Region.
Eleven others, however, escaped, following a violent confrontation they had with members of the Akyem Sekyere Watchdog Committee at the place where the crime took place.
Those arrested are Samuel Amoani, 20; George Siaw, 24; Samuel Tetteh, 25; Kwabena Amoako, 35; Atsu Delasi, 25, and Michael Yaw Asiako.
In July this year, there was a similar incident in which two people were convicted to a prison term of two years each by the Anyinam Magistrate Court.
Briefing the Daily Graphic, a member of the watchdog committee, Mr Edward Asamoah, said the committee members had mounted guard at various locations in the area in view of the incidents of rail tracks stealing.
He said in the early hours of November 5, 2008, a native of the town who was returning from a hunting expedition heard an unusual noise from the bush and when he ventured to find out what was happening, he saw a group of young men cutting the only railway line connecting the village to other parts of the country.
Unknowingly, the suspected criminals had loaded some of the rail tracks onto a Benz cargo truck, with registration number AS 3486 D, but their attempt to smuggle their booty out of Akyem Sekyere to Kade, where their ring leader was said to be residing, was unsuccessful, as a result of efforts by the watchdog committee members who had mounted a barricade on the road.
That resulted in a violent clash between members of the committee and some of the suspected criminals who, in the process, managed to escape. But the timely intervention of the police led to the arrest of the six suspects.
The investigator, Detective Chief Inspector Martin Amofa of the Anyinam Police, said the suspects would be arraigned soon.