Three businessmen have been sentenced to a combined term of 30 years imprisonment by the Tema Circuit Court for stealing.
The convicts are Ben Ograh, Carl Kumodzi, and Solomon Nana Yaw Amoako.
They were sentenced by the court presided over by Ms Bertha Aniagyei after all three had pleaded guilty to charges of conspiracy and theft. The 10-year jail term for each count is to run concurrently.
The complainant in the case is Beatrice Ampofo, who works as a shipper at CMA CGM Ghana, a shipping company located in the Meridian Area of Tema.
Ben Ograh, 35, is a businessman and a forklift operator residing at Adenta in Accra, while Carl Kumodzi, 27, is a clearing agent at Oyibi.
On the other hand, Solomon Nana Yaw Amoako, 35, is an electrician residing at Nungua.
Kumodzi and Amoako are friends.
Per the facts of the case, on January 23, 2019, the second accused, Carl Kumodzi, contacted a witness named John Mensah, informing him that his client needed containers to export cashew nuts to Shanghai, China.
Subsequently, on February 4, 2019, Mensah collected 14 containers from CMA CGM Ghana and stored them in a warehouse at Spintex for loading with cashew nuts.
The prosecution revealed that Ben Ograh and Carl Kumodzi, in collaboration with Solomon Nana Yaw Amoako, reloaded the 14 containers onto trucks and deposited them in another warehouse at Spintex.
However, instead of loading cashew nuts for export as claimed, they sold the containers in various suburbs of Accra without loading any goods.
After a complaint was lodged with the Tema Regional Criminal Investigation Department on March 23, 2019, the defendants were arrested at their respective hideouts in Adenta, Oyibi, and Community 5 in Tema.
Police investigations led to the recovery of five stolen containers in locations such as Abokobi, Ashaiman, Adenta, Community 11, and Afienya.
Further investigations revealed that there was no warehouse stocked with cashew nuts at Spintex.
The prosecution argued that Ben Ograh, who claimed to be an exporter of cashew nuts, had dishonestly appropriated the containers for personal gain.
The value of the stolen containers was estimated at GHC 138,843.69, with nine containers yet to be recovered.
Investigations are ongoing to apprehend the other accomplices, Yaw and KK, who are on the run.
Meanwhile, Ograh, Kumodzi, and Amoako are assisting the police in recovering the remaining nine containers, which are believed to be in Kumasi and other locations in Ghana.