Kumasi, Nov 10, GNA - The Kumasi police have arrested three persons who illegally tapped Ghana Telecom (GT) pre-paid phone lines to make international telephone calls at night.

They are Papa Yaw Darkwa Marfo, 23, a salesman, Kwabena Agyeman Prempeh, 23, an ex-student of the Institute of Management Studies and Peter Dabie Amankwa, 23, a student of the Kumasi Polytechnic. They cut the PVC pipe that extended the telephone cable from a pole to a phone booth behind the Ashanti Regional Co-ordinating Council (RCC), peeled off the cable and used GT fixed phone handset to connect the wires to make several international telephone calls at midnight on Friday.

Briefing journalists on Monday Mr Paul Frimpong Siaw, Ashanti Regional Crime Officer, said a security man on duty at the RCC spotted the suspects who had parked their cars on the roadside and making telephone calls from the booth.

He said when the security man approached them he detected that the suspects were using GT fixed line handset to make the calls which was unusual.

The security man reported the matter to the authorities of the Kumasi branch of GT who inspected the phone booth and found that it had been tampered with.

Mr Charles Bobbie, Senior Investigations Officer of GT who took journalists to inspect the damaged phone booth, said the company has lost several millions of cedis through illegal connections and tapping of telephone lines in the Kumasi metropolis.