Kumasi, Nov. 29, GNA 96 The Ashanti Regional Police Command has arrested four persons for stealing cables valued at more than 70 million cedis belonging to the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) and the Ghana Telecom (GT).

They are Osman Ibrahim, 25, Iyisiba Issaka, 26, Amudu Idrisu, 28, all from Bawku and Naabe Zakaria, 31, who claimed to be a former worker of the Ghana Telecom.

Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) Frank Adu-Poku, Ashanti Regional Police Commander, in a press briefing in Kumasi, said the first three persons were arrested by a police team upon a tip-off at Denase on the Kumasi-Offinso road whereas Zakaria was arrested with the help of one Mr Yaw Badu, a Kumasi-based businessman when he saw him cutting GT cables at the Centre for National Culture.

However, the GT office denied Zakaria's claim that he was an employee of the company.

The regional police chief expressed worry about the rampant cable stealing in the metropolis for the past months, saying it had overtaken other criminal activities.

The Regional Police Commander said the activities of cable thieves had almost plunged the metropolis in total darkness few days past and reiterated the need for the public to expose such people since it costs the government huge sums of money to re-install them.