Two men who conspired and stole faulty car parts worth GH¢17,500 at Bogoso Junction have been sentenced to three months of imprisonment with hard labour by the Tarkwa District Court One.

The convicts, Robert Cudjoe, alias “Nose Mask,” a 19-year-old commercial tricycle rider, and Isaac Aidoo, alias “Yaw Talk,” an 18-year-old small-scale miner, pleaded guilty to both charges.

Police Sergeant Enoch Assan-Donkoh, who led the prosecution, told the court, presided over by Charles Owusu Nsiah, that the complainant, Christopher Dorglo, is an auto mechanic at Bogoso Junction but resides in Booboobo near Tarkwa.

He said Cudjoe, Aidoo, and their accomplice, Emma—who is currently on the run—are all residents of Booboobo in the Tarkwa Nsuaem Municipality.

Sergeant Assan-Donkoh stated that the complainant had a collection of faulty vehicle parts, including gearboxes from Nissan Sentra, Ford Escape, and Hyundai Santa Fe vehicles, stored in an open area at his workshop for future repairs.

On October 25, 2024, between 12:00 a.m. and 1:00 a.m., Cudjoe, Aidoo, and Emma, who had planned to steal the vehicle parts and sell them as scrap, executed their operation.

In addition to the vehicle parts, the three also stole a defective car battery, a damaged car air conditioning tank, and four car water tanks from a nearby workshop.

The stolen items were hidden at Bogoso Junction, behind a storey building located along the Bogoso Junction-Samahu road.

The prosecutor stated that at around 8:30 a.m., Aidoo hired a commercial tricycle rider, Paul Balungo, a witness in the case, to transport the stolen items to Samahu for a fee.

Just as the tricycle was about to depart with the stolen goods, a witness, Eric Wilson, came across the three men behind the building while on his way to his workshop.

Wilson confronted them about where they had obtained the items and then left to call for reinforcements.

Upon seeing Wilson return with others, Aidoo and Emma fled the scene, but Cudjoe and the tricycle rider, Balungo, were apprehended and handed over to the police.

Sergeant Assan-Donkoh informed the court that the complainant discovered the theft that same morning and identified the stolen gearboxes as his.

Aidoo was later arrested by the police, and in his caution statement, he confessed to the crime and named Cudjoe and Emma as his accomplices.

Efforts are currently underway to apprehend Emma and bring him to justice.

Following police investigations, Sergeant Assan-Donkoh told the court that Cudjoe and Aidoo were formally charged with the crime.