Kumasi, July 20, GNA - A Kumasi Circuit Court has remanded into prison custody 19-year old Baba Ayaaba for alleged theft of 210 cellular phones.

The police have retrieved 163 of the stolen phones.

Ayaaba maintains he is innocent of the crime, claiming that the phones were planted in his room by the police. His accomplice, Dan Adinyele, is on the run.

Police Chief Inspector Isaac Mensah Apenteng told the court presided over by Justice William Boampong that the complainant, Prince Opoku, is a trader and deals in cellular phones.

On July 17, at about 0500hours, the complainant was on his routine of selling the phones at the Race Course area when the accused and Adinyele approached him under the pretext of buying some of the phones.

They seized his handbag containing the phones and fled.

The prosecution said with the assistance of the neighbourhood watch committee, Ayaaba was later arrested and two of the stolen phones found on him.

A search of the room where he lives with Adinyele uncovered additional 161.

The court directed that the 163 phones so far recovered should be returned to Opoku.