Vodafone, Huawei engineers arrested for stealing cables

Three engineers of Vodafone Ghana Limited and Huawei have been arrested for allegedly stealing cables worth GHc44, 640 belonging to Vodafone Ghana Limited, a telecommunications network provider.

They have been identified as Dickson Boamah, 41, a field engineer of Vodafone Ghana; Akwesi Boateng, 38, and Alfred Yeboah, 45, both field engineers contracted by Huawei.

Three scrap dealers whose names were given by the police as Charles Coffie, 45; Kwame Adu, 29, and Kwadwo Appiah, 26, have also been arrested for allegedly buying the copper in the cables.

The Amasaman Police said a retired policeman (name withheld) arrested the suspects after he had spotted them burning the cables and loading the copper onto a truck.

Copper stolen

Briefing the Daily Graphic, the Amasaman District Police Commander, Deputy Superintendent of Police Mr Elvis Sadongo, said investigations had established that Vodafone Ghana had partnered Huawei to change Vodaphone’s cables from copper to fibre.

As part of the changeover, he said, Vodafone Ghana was removing all its underground copper cables to make way for fibre optic cables.
The retrieved cables are said to have been handed over to Huawei in exchange for the fibre cables at a reduced rate.

However, the engineers are said to have stolen the copper cables from the Dansoman sub-station, after which they stripped the cables down by burning the rubber covering in the bush at Amasaman.

The copper is then sold to scrap dealers who also trade it outside the country.

He said the scrap dealers said they had paid GH¢3,000 for the first batch of copper and were waiting for the next tranche which was to cost GH¢5,000.