Police grab truck with stolen railway lines
Police in the Shama District of the Western Region have arrested one man and located a truck that was used to convey railway track sleepers reportedly stolen from railway sites.
The truck with registration number WR 2467 -18 was intercepted by the Marine Unit of the police after the vehicle developed a fault. The driver and another person had successfully left the scene of their transgression and were on their way to sell the parts, police say.
According to a Daily Graphic report. railway track sleepers are stolen at night by individuals who trade the parts to scrap metal dealers, who in turn smelt the metals for other items. This supply chain continues to hamper efforts at increasing Ghana’s railway investments, the report says.
The Crime Officer, Marine Police, of the Western Regional Command, Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) Solomon Debi, reportedly got wind of the plans to harvest the tracks and transport them out of Inchaban.
“Our surveillance intercepted a KIA Rhino truck with registration number WR 2467–18, which was used in carting the rails to their intended destination,” ASP Debi added.
The officers upon getting to the location found the vehicle had broken down and “we realised that the bucket of the truck was fully loaded with rail lines cut into smaller pieces as scrap”.
The men who had conveyed the parts up to that point were able to run away, however, another man arrived at the scene who claimed ownership of the KIA truck. He was arrested to help in investigations.
Railway developments in Ghana
In August last year, parliament approved a €523-million credit facility agreement between the government and the German Development Bank, Deutsche Bank, to finance the construction of sections of the western railway line from Takoradi Port to Huni Valley in the Western Region.
The house also granted a waiver of import duties, import value-added tax (VAT), levies and domestic levies amounting to €72.29 million on project materials and equipment to be imported for the execution of the standard gauge railway line.
The project is expected to be executed by Amandi Investment Limited and will be completed within 42 months from the date of commencement.
The agreements and requests were presented to the house by the Minister of Parliamentary Affairs, Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu, on behalf of the Minister of Finance.