"Office of the President" vehicle involved in battery theft at Glo sites

Three persons using a blue-black Nissan Navara pickup truck with registration number
GX 727-15, labelled "State Protocol Office of The President" have been
arrested by the Assin Praso Police for allegedly stealing backup batteries and other
items from the cell sites of Glo Ghana.

Police got a tip off that the three, aged between 25 and 35, had vandalized several
Glo cell sites and stolen backup batteries and other, fire extinguishers and earthing
cables.

The Police said caught up with them while they were stealing some of the items at the
Glo cell site at Assin Asempanaye and more than 20 backup batteries belonging to Glo
Ghana were found in their vehicle, which had the "State Protocol Office of The
President" sticker on the windscreen, ostensibly to facilitate smooth passage at
various Police check points.

Information reaching Adom News indicate on February 15, 2017, twelve backup batteries
were stolen at a Glo cell site in Assin Anyinabrim in the Central Region, following
which security guards at other Glo sites were put on high alert.

On February 16,m2017, a day after the Anyinabrim theft incident, a security guard at
another Glo cell site Assin Asempanaye in the Assin North District spotted a blue
black Nissan Navara pick up leaving his site after he had gone for lunch. Upon checks
at the site, he realized the backup battery compartment had been vandalized and 12
batteries stolen.

The guard quickly alerted the site Engineer and they hired a taxi cab to track the
vehicle.

Upon reaching Assin Assin Praso Police checkpoint, the security guard informed the
Police officers who in turn sent a wireless message to their colleagues at other
Police checkpoints along the Assin Fosu-Kumasi highway.

Upon that tipoff, the police men at the Hwiremoase checkpoint near Obuasi junction
arrested and detained the three young men who allegedly offered to pay the police
over GHC1000 as bribe but the policemen declined.

A search conducted on the vehicle revealed more than 20 backup batteries and other
items concealed in the bucket of the pick up.

The suspects allegedly admitted to stealing the items and are now in the custody of
the Assin Praso Police pending further investigation.

Meanwhile, Adom News gathered that for the past two years, many Glo cell sites dotted
along the Accra-Cape Coast-Kumasi Highway have been vandalized and more than 500
backup batteries and other items estimated at about GHC1million have been stolen.

The backup batteries serve as alternative power source to sustain the cell sites in
the event of ECG power outage to enable customers communicate continuously without
experiencing call drop.