Management of Produce Buying Company (PBC), says it will not countenance any criminal activities perpetrated by staff of the company to tarnish its hard-worn image and enviable position as the largest licensed cocoa buying company in the country. In a statement signed by the Head of Corporate Affairs of PBC, Mrs. Nanette Aryee, and issued by the company in reaction to the arrest of six persons, including the Takoradi District Depot Manager of the PBC, in connection with a missing truckload of coca beans, the management said PBC was confident that the Ghana Police Service would conduct the necessary investigations to bring the culprits to book. It said the management would pursue other administrative measures to deal with any member of staff if he or she were found to be involved in the case. It said the regulations and operating guidelines for cocoa purchases did not permit the purchase of bagged cocoa with the marks of another licensed buying company. “The management of PBC finds the incident referred to as truly unfortunate and is worried about this emerging trend of robbery and hijacking of vehicles hauling cocoa,” it stated. The statement recalled that PBC, as a company, had also been a victim of similar hijacking sometime in February 2011 when a truck loaded with 600 bags of cocoa en route to the Takoradi Port from Enchi per one of its haulers, was hijacked at Bogoso. However, it stated that with the assistance of the Bogoso Police, the cocoa was retrieved. It therefore called on stakeholders and the security apparatus to work together to find a lasting solution to the problem. The Daily Graphic edition of last Tuesday, May 24, 2011 reported that six persons, including the Takoradi District Depot Manager of the PBC, had been arrested in connection with a missing truck-load of cocoa beans which had allegedly been hijacked by armed robbers at Dompim in the Western Region. The six were Kweku Asare Sarfo, the depot manager; Asafua Drokow, a purchasing clerk; Albert Kwesi Ampomah Nyanny, Isaac Eshun, Agyei Sekyi and Frank Atto. Nyanny, Eshun, Sekyi and Atto are said to have played very vital roles in the whole affair, from the hijacking to the sale of the commodity. Meanwhile, the truck has been found empty and abandoned somewhere in the Central Region. So far, 175 bags of the beans, which were part of the total consignment, have been retrieved. Source: Daily Graphic