POLICE HUNT FOR 'GALAMSEY' OPERATOR (MIRROR, PAGE 27, JULY 30, 2010)

From Samuel Duodu, Sunyani

THE Brong Ahafo Regional Police Criminal Investigation Department (CID) has launched a man-hunt for a-20-year-old ‘galamsey’ operator who was remanded by the Fiapre Circuit Court in the Sunyani West District for stealing electricity cables but succeeded in escaping from police custody.
The accused, Jafaru Dubong, was arrested on Tuesday, June 24 , 2010, at Nyamebekyere, a farming community near Kobedi on the Sunyani -Chiraa road for stealing electricity cables belonging to the Volta River Authority (VRA) Northern Electrification Division (NED) office in Sunyani.
Jafaru, whose accomplices managed to flee the scene of the crime when they were apprehended by some residents of the area, was remanded in prison custody by the court presided over by Mr Justice Benjamin Yaw Osei on the same day of his arrest but managed to escape when he was sent to the Regional Hospital for medical attention as a result of deep cutlass wounds he sustained during his time of arrest.
The accused who is facing charges of stealing and causing unlawful damage was to reappear before the court on July, 14, 2010, but escaped from his hospital bed at the Regional Hospital in Sunyani.
The Regional Deputy Crime Officer, Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP), Mr Saviour Ahiamadi, who confirmed the escape, said the accused was sent to the Regional Hospital in Sunyani for treatment under Police guard and while on admission, he was handcuffed to the bed on which he was lying but managed to escape.
He said the police have mounted an intensive search for him but were appealing to members of the public who had any information on his whereabouts to contact the police to enable them re-arrest him.
Sources close to the court told The Mirror that the accused whose cutlass wounds was getting worse was sent to the regional hospital for medical attention but succeeded in running away from the hospital when the officer detailed to keep an eye on him went to attend to nature’s call.
It would be recalled that Jafaru, who was in the company of two others now at large, cut down the electrical copper cables on three electricity poles valued at Gh¢2,500.00 at Nyamebekyere around 3.30am resulting in power outage at the Regional Hospital in Sunyani, Penkwasi, a suburb in the Sunyani municipality and its environs and Chiraa in the Sunyani West District.
According to the Police, through the vigilance of three residents of Nyamebekyere, Jafaru, who was then descending from the pole after cutting down the wires, was arrested but his other two accomplices managed to flee the scene. Jafaru was sent to the Head of Security at the VRA NED office, Mr Owusu Agyapong, who later handed him over to the police and after investigation, he was charged with the offence and put before the court.