Tarkwa, June 03, GNA - Two illegal gold diggers, Abu Mohammed, 31, and Daniel Buabeng, 39, were sentenced to nine years' imprisonment each in hard labour for stealing shank spikes, bolts and nuts belonging to the Ghana Railway Company at Nsuta Wassa.

They pleaded guilty to the charges and were sentenced on their own plea.

Chief Inspector Alex Asamoah told the magistrate's court that on June 01, a hunter spotted the accused persons digging one of the beacons. A beacon is a metal used as a support for the railway line in a curve. He alerted the line inspectors who arrested them, handed them over to Nsuta Police and a search on them revealed shank spikes, bolts and nuts.

Mr Samuel Prince Fosu, Inspector of railway tracks Tarkwa, told the fish plate at the rail joints.