Kumasi, March 3, GNA - Two members of a mobile phone snatching syndicate operating in Kumasi, have been sentenced five years each in hard labour by a Kumasi Circuit Court. Kwame Anokye and Yaw Nkansah pleaded guilty to conspiracy and stealing and were convicted on their own plea. John Asante, an accomplice, is however, on the run and the police have mounted a search for him.

Chief Inspector Alice Ansah, prosecuting, told the court presided over by Mr Eric Baah that the victims, Adelaide Amo, and Veronica Agyemang, both residents in Kumasi, had their mobile phones snatched in two different taxi cabs at different locations. Adelaide had her Sony Ericsson phone stolen when she joined a taxi cab from Afrancho to Maakro on January 30, 2009 by the convicts. They, however, run out of luck when they attempted to steal that of Veronica on another taxi cab. She detected that her phone had been taken away from her handbag, after she had been alerted by someone that the three other passengers on the car were thieves.

Police Chief Inspector Ansah said Veronica raised the alarm and this attracted people to the scene. Sensing danger, they took to their heels but Anokye was arrested while Nkansah and Asante escaped. During a search on Anokye at the Buffalo Unit of the Ashanti Regional Police Command, the Sony Ericsson phone of Adelaide and the chip were found. Anokye admitted stealing the phones and mentioned Nkansah and Asante as his accomplices. Meanwhile, Anokye and Nkansah are facing a charge of robbery in another case pending before the court.