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Man arrested with telecom gadgets

A 34-year-old man, Theophilus Agbeko, has been arrested for illegal possession of four boxes of telecommunication gadgets.

The suspect, who was also in possession of a number of Tigo cards, was arrested by officials of the Customs Division of the Ghana Revenue Authority at the Asikuma Customs checkpoint in the Eastern Region.

The gadgets are suspected to be used in intercepting foreign calls to make them appear like local calls, Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP), Mr Fred Agyepong Asare, Volta Regional Police Commander, told newsmen in Ho last Monday.

Agbeko is in custody at the Volta Regional Police Headquarters.

Mr Asare said the practice of intercepting foreign calls by syndicates robbed the country of revenue and deprived mobile phone companies of foreign revenue.

Mr Emmanuel Lade, a revenue analyst of Tigo, said 19 cents per call were lost to the company and the government through the illegal operation.

He said the government and the company stood to lose six cents and 16 cents respectively for each of those illegal calls.

Mr Lade said such illegal operators were raking in millions of dollars at the expense of the government and the telephony companies adding “it’s hurting us a lot”.

He said there were legally registered carriers of such calls outside the country who, though expected to channel those calls directly to the mobile phone companies in Ghana, rather channeled them through the illegal SIM card operators.

Meanwhile, the Ho Municipal Police has detained four suspects in connection with seven motor-bikes suspected to have been stolen.

They are Prosper Gadri, 34, Michael Kofi Seke, 48, Atsu Gbemu, 25 and Kwabla Afevienyeku, 34.

Mr Asare said Gadri and Seke were arrested by some residents of C.K. Road and brought to the Municipal Police Station on suspicion of stealing a SANYA and DVS unregistered motorbikes.

He said those who arrested the two told the police that they became suspicious when they saw them pushing the motorbikes.

Mr Asare said when the police interrogated the suspects they mentioned one Agbeko Agbesi from whose house two other motor bikes were retrieved.

He said seven motor bikes suspected to have been stolen, have been retrieved.

He said the police planned to hold periodic meetings on security with residents in the Ho municipality in addition to the patrols to ensure security.

Source: GNA

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