Pregnant woman arrested for stealing car

Mariam Mumuni, the pregnant woman (left), From (l-r) Yussif Salisu, Benjamin Adu, and Eric Budu (right)

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Mariam Mumuni, the pregnant woman (left), From (l-r) Yussif Salisu, Benjamin Adu, and Eric Budu (right)

A twenty-nine year old pregnant woman, Mariam Mumuni, has been arrested with four male accomplices, for allegedly conspiring and stealing a Honda CR-V four wheel drive, with registration number GW 9233 Z, belonging to her boss, Harinder Kandhari.

Besides the stolen vehicle, the group also parted with other valuables, including a portable safe containing $800, RS10,000 and GH¢900, a computer laptop, two mobile phones, six wrist watches, assorted jewellery, and three iPods.

Police report indicates that Mariam had been Mr. Kandhari's house help for the past five years, and would be leaving her post soon, due to the pregnancy.

She is alleged to have contacted Nasiru Ibrahim, 24, to organise some people to steal from her boss. Ibrahim reportedly then recruited one Hamza Mohammed, 22, described as a car dealer.

DCOP Bio Atinga said on October 21, at about 8:00 a.m., Mr. Kandhari left home for work, leaving the house in the protection of a K9 security guard, Dominic Acheampong.

At a media briefing in Accra yesterday, the Greater Accra Regional Police Commander, Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCOP) Rose Bio Atinga said Dominic abandoned his post to buy a mobile phone at Alajo, and left the key to the main gate of the house with Mariam, who was selling mobile phone credit cards about 200 meters away.

DCOP Bio Atinga told the newsmen that the syndicate took advantage of the absence of the security man from the gate, and broke into the house, and stole the car, alongside the valuables mentioned above.

According to the Greater Accra Commander, on November 18 this year, efforts by the Tamale and Tesano police led to the arrest of Salifu Shirazu, 32, in Tamale.

According to DCOP Atinga, the suspects also recruited Noah Ampadu, 25, to help carry out the operation.

Hamza managed to obtain scanned documents of the vehicle from the Driver, Vehicle and Licensing Authority (DVLA) headoffice in Accra, to authenticate the sale of the Honda vehicle.

The car was sold to Salifu, who was said to have paid an upfront amount of GH¢14,000 to defray a substantial part of the original cost of GH¢21,000.

The remaining GH¢7,000, by their agreement, was to be defrayed within two weeks of the sale.

In another development, three men suspected to be operating a car snatching syndicate have been arrested.

At the same briefing in Accra, DCOP Atinga said on November 18 this year, the driver of a KIA Pride taxi cab with registration number GE 6211-09, Razak Adamu, reported to the Agbogba police that three men, Yussif Salisu, 21, Benjamin Adu, 20, and Eric Budu, 24, hired him from the Madina Zongo junction to Akatsi Abor near Agbogba.

On reaching the Customs warehouse on the way, the three passengers pulled out knives and forcibly collected the cab, his Nokia mobile phone, and the sum of GH¢20 and sped off.

She said two of the suspects, Eric and Benjamin were seen begging for alms at Pokuase and were arrested by a mob, who suspected that they could be up to something untoward.

They were subsequently handed over to the police. The two then led the police to arrest Yussif.

According to DCOP Atinga, Yussif also admitted to the offence, and added that they used a kitchen knife for their operation.

'It came out that the three suspects conspired to snatch the taxi cab and sell it to a prospective buyer at the Konkomba Market, but later decided to sell it in Kumasi, as the said buyer at Konkomba was not available.'

The suspects therefore, decided to keep the stolen taxi cab at a cemetery near Pokuase, where they could look for money for fuel,' she explained.