Two suspected criminals have been rounded up in Accra for moulding cakes of toilet soap and neatly packaging them as mobile phones for sale to unsuspecting victims. The two, Kwadwo Addei, 22 and Desmond Nkwah, 20 were among 30 others who were arrested by the Accra Regional Police Command in an operation to flush out illegal phone dealers in the metropolis. The method adopted by the suspects was to engage a prospective buyer in negotiations for a desired mobile phone until an agreed amount was reached. After negotiations, a buyer was made to believe that the intended mobile phone had been packaged upon which payment would be made, only for the victim to later realise on removing the package tthat it was toilet soap. According to the Accra Regional Police Commander Deputy Commissioner of Police(DCOP) Douglas Akrofi Asiedu, the exercise was part of activities by the police to clamp down on the increasing trend of cell phone thefts and associated crimes in the country. He said the suspects, who operated around the Kwame Nkrumah Circle and the Ghana Telecommunication (GT) Company Head Office, would be screened and those found to be culpable prosecuted. He remarked that the issue of mobile phone stealing had been a disturbing one and added that at a previous meeting with accredited dealers, concerns were raised about the activities of illegal phone dealers and the need to stop them. Giving more details on the operation, he said the suspects were arrested for dishonestly receiving mobile phones for which they could not account. The Regional Police said mobile phones were usually snatched by thieves on unregistered motorbikes and then sold to mobile phone peddlers at the Kwame Nkrumah Circle and its environs. He stressed that since such mobile phones ended up on the streets with no receipts to prove whether they had been stolen or not, the police would make arrests until suspects were able to convince the police the sources of their wares. DCOP Akrofi Asiedu indicated that investigations into the surge in illegal mobile phone dealings in the country revealed that it was partly the result of the consistent demand for mobile phones, adding that the operation formed part of the decongesting of Accra. He said under the Accra Metropolitan Assembly's bye-laws on street hawking, it was a crime to sell on the streets, saying mobile phone sellers at the Nkrumah Circle were no exception, since their operations constituted an obstruction of traffic. He advised the public to refrain from buying mobile phones from such unauthorised people and endeavour to buy them from accredited mobile phone dealers so that the work of the police would be made easier, since the patronage of the public of their wares tended to encourage the suspects in their activities. Some of the suspects said they had receipts to support the purchase of their mobile phones. Source: Daily Graphic