Police arrest 3 suspected car thieves

Two Cameroonians and a Sierra Leonean are in the grip of the Adabraka Police for allegedly stealing a Nissan March taxi parked at the Kwame Nkrumah Circle Interchange, in Accra.

The suspects are Rodricque Funbad, 26, Clovis Funbad, 24, biological brothers from Cameroun, and Mohammed Darany, 23, the Sierra Leonean.

The suspects, who are workers of a Recycling Plant Company at Adabraka, are said to have attempted to transport the vehicle to Togo when police in Tema accosted them at a snap checkpoint.

Parked car

Briefing journalists on the arrests, the Nima Divisional Crime Officer, Superintendent of Police, Mr Williams Daa, said the owner of the taxi with registration number GX 6012-14 parked the car at a spot at the Kwame Nkrumah Interchange on May 27, 2017 with the key inside the ignition.

The owner of the car,  whose name was given by the police as Kwabena  Boamah, is said to have then travelled to Afiduase in the Eastern Region hoping to return and drive his car home.

Mr Daa said police investigations revealed that Funbad, saw the car parked with the key in the ignition while he was on his way to work on that fateful day and told his brother and friend about it.

The three are said to have hatched a plan to steal the car leading Funbad to return to the spot where he had found the car later in the evening after he had closed from work.

According to the police, Funbad told investigators that he found the vehicle still parked at the same spot unattended to but with a flat tyre.

He then called his younger brother, Clovis Funbad, and his friend Darany who changed the flat tyre of the vehicle.

Darany, who is said to be an unlicensed driver, allegedly took over the steering wheel while his two friends sat in the car and they drove to an unknown destination where the number plate of the vehicle was removed.

After changing the number plate the three suspects drove off towards Aflao, raising suspicion that the suspects intended to cross the Ghana-Togo border with it.

Arrest

Upon reaching a police checkpoint at Tema, near the TT Brothers’ area, the suspects were signalled to stop for the normal police car inspection and checking formalities but they refused to do so and rather sped off.

Their action prompted the police to give them a chase and they were apprehended.

When they were arrested, the police demanded the driving licence of the driver of the vehicle but he confessed that he was not a licensed driver.

When asked about the ownership of the car, the suspects fumbled and when a search was conducted in the car, a driving licence certificate bearing the name Kwabena Boamah and other documents which showed the owner belonged to the Adabraka Cooperative Driver’s Union were discovered.

A mobile contact of the bearer of the driving licence was immediately called and he confirmed ownership of the car.

The owner of the vehicle is said to have gone to the Kwame Nkrumah Interchange where he had parked his car and found that it had disappeared.

He filed a complaint with the Adabraka Police station which linked up with the Tema Police and had the three suspects transferred to the Adabraka Police to assist with investigations.