Three scrap dealers at Kumasi have been remanded into prison custody by a Tarkwa circuit court for stealing an exacavator valued 6.5 million Ghana cedis.

The accused, Jabil Ibrahim Baba, 23, Shaibu Yakubu, 27 and Kofi Minta, 27 pleaded not guilty to a charge of stealing.

Police Chief Inspector Oscar Amponsah told the court presided by Mr. Justice Obeng Asante that the complainant, Bismark Danso, is an excavator operator who lived at Wasa Hemang in the Western region.

He said in 2013, the complainant packed his faulty Kamatsu excavator at Wassa Hemang for repairs.

Chief Inspector Amponsah said on September 24 the accused persons and Kwaku and Edma who are on the run, met at Wasa Hemang and agreed to steal the complainant’s machine.

He said Jabil and Saibu engaged Kofi to convey them and a gas cutting machine from Kumasi to Wasa Hemang with his Opel Astra taxi with registration number GT 1220-U.

He said Jabil and Shaibu used the machine to cut the Kamatsu excavator machine into pieces and damaged it.

Chief Inspector Amponsah said someone who saw the accused persons busily cutting the excavator machine in the night informed the complainant.

He said the complainant with the assistance of the Unit Committee members of Wasa Hemang arrested the accused persons but Kwaku and Edma escaped.