Crime

Four cops interdicted for allegedly stealing items from Osagyefo Power Barge

Four policemen have been interdicted for allegedly stealing high tension cables, fridges and other valuables items from the 125 megawatt (MW), Osagyefo Power Barge at Effasu, near Half Assini in the Jomoro municipality of the Western Region last February.

The Western Regional Police Command has begun full investigations into the matter in which Lance Corporal (L/Cpl) Peter Zator and L/Cpl Ibrahim Mohammed, on interdiction, were arrested for stealing pylon cables, fridges and other valuables on the power barge.

They mentioned the names of two other colleagues’ accomplices in the theft case.

The interdicted policemen, who were deployed to protect the 77 meter-long Osagyefo Power Barge at Effasu, confessed committing the crime, a police source has told the Ghanaian Times.

In February this year, the suspects were nabbed while loading the stolen items onto a Mercedes Benz cargo truck, following a tip-off.

The plant was purchased in 1999, and was supposed to add 125 megawatts of power to the national grid, but work  on it was suspended  due to a dispute relating to the Power Purchase Agreement  entered into by Ghana and Balkan on July 27, 2007. 

It is recalled that similar theft occurred in the Osagyefo Power Barge on Friday, April 4, 2014, as the Half Assini District Police Command intercepted large quantities of equipment and accessories meant for the upgrading of the Osagyefo Power Barge.

Equipment and accessories including a power generator, boxes of new filters, electrical cables, large numbers of transformer radiators and other generating units, as well as other fittings, loaded into two articulated trucks were retrieved.

Built by Ansaldo in Italy at Navalmare Yard, the plant was acquired by the government in 1995, with financial assistance from the Overseas Economic Cooperation Fund of Japan.

In October 2002, the Osagyefo Power Barge was moved to the Sekondi Naval Base in Sekondi until 2005, when it was taken to its current location at Effasu.


FROM CLEMENT ADZEI BOYE, SEKONDI

Show More
Back to top button