GWCL arrests cable thief at Ichaban treatment plant

At the Ichaban water treatment facility in the Western region, the Ghana Water Company Limited (GWCL) detained a person they believe to be a cable thief.

According to a statement from GWCL, the suspect, Baba Salihu, 17, was detained at the station last Saturday, September 23, 2023.

“At about 10 a.m. on Saturday, a Senior Technical Assistant at the station, Solomon Kuwornu, doing some rounds, heard an unusual noise in the old laboratory and decided to find out what could be happening there.

“He traced the noise to the laboratory ceiling, thinking it was reptiles that were creating the noise, only to find Salihu lying prostrate on the ceiling to avoid detection,” the statement read in parts.

According to the statement, when Mr. Kuwornu heard the noise, Baba had already taken out all of the wires from the walls and was working on removing those from the ceiling.

After then, he was detained and taken to the Inchaban police station.

According to the Water Company, cable thieves have been causing problems at the Inchaban Water Treatment Plant since October 2022.

“Due to this cable theft, the station was unable to engage this special device during the dry season, causing the plant to nearly shut down in March 2023. In July 2023, the entire electric cables in the late Station Manager’s bungalow were stolen along with the 25mm service cables that draw power from the external pole to the house. All the electrical fittings in the bungalow have also been stolen,” the statement indicated.

It said that recently, they had also pulled wires from the trainees’ quarters, costing the company huge sums of money to replace them.