By Gifty Amofa, GNA
Accra, Feb. 10, GNA – An Accra Circuit Court has remanded a 47-year-old scrap dealer into police custody for allegedly robbing the Yunzu Group of Companies of electricity transformers at gunpoint.
Razak Osman has denied conspiring with one Libya Abdul Rahman, and 10 others currently at large to seize the mobile phones of the workers, assault them, and lock them up to prevent interference while the gang stole four brand-new transformers belonging to the company, valued at US$30,700.
Counsel for the accused, Mr Imoro Issahaku Gengen, in praying for bail, argued that Osman was not linked to the offence, was not present at the crime scene, and that he was a family man with credible sureties, and was unwell.
However, the court refused the bail application, noting that the claim of ill health was not supported by medical evidence and that police required the accused to assist in the arrest of his alleged accomplices.
Chief Inspector Daniel Ofori-Appiah, prosecuting, told the court, presided over by Madam Basilia Adjei-Tawiah, that the complainant, Mr Joseph Nana Kwabena Ntim Awua, was a field engineer residing at Teshie, while the accused was a scrap dealer living at Agbogbloshie, Accra.
He said on January 1, 2026, Osman and his accomplices, armed and claiming to be National Security operatives, arrived at the Yunzu Group of Companies’ warehouse at Graphic Road, Accra, in a white pick-up vehicle.
The group seized all mobile phones belonging to the workers, including that of the security guard at the gate, and subjected them to physical abuse.
Chief Inspector Ofori-Appiah said the accused and his accomplices loaded three brand-new 1,000 KVA electricity distribution transformers and one 200 KVA electronic distribution transformer, valued at US$30,700, onto a Man Diesel truck with registration number GE 4562-18 and another crane truck, and drove off to an unknown destination.
The court heard that the accused and his accomplices also arrested and handcuffed a Chinese national found at the premises and later abandoned him along a section of the road.
On January 12, the complainant reported the incident to the Accra Regional CID, leading to the tracking and arrest of the driver of the Man Diesel truck used to transport the transformers.
In his statement to the police, the driver said he was hired by Osman and his accomplices, who claimed to be National Security operatives, to transport the transformers from the company’s warehouse to a scrap yard at Avenor, where Osman was present.
The driver led police to the scrap yard, where the transformers were offloaded, and the yard’s supervisor, Musah Ahmed, was arrested.
In his cautioned statement, Ahmed said on January 1, at about 0020 hours, Osman was at the scrap yard when Libya and Abdul Rahman, all scrap dealers, arrived in a white pick-up vehicle and two trucks loaded with the transformers.
They were subsequently offloaded, dismantled, and sent to an unknown location, he said.
The prosecutor said Ahmed later led police to arrest Osman.
During interrogation, the accused admitted the offence and stated that after dismantling the transformers, the copper and aluminium scraps were transported to Agbogbloshie for sale.
Police said investigations were ongoing, while a manhunt had been launched to arrest the remaining accomplices.
GNA
Edited by Agnes Boye-Doe