The Amasaman Circuit Court has remanded two drivers, Ali Zakary and Dabare Toffic, for allegedly stealing an excavator valued at $108,000 from a businessman.

Zakary and Toffic face charges of conspiring to steal the excavator, with Zakary additionally charged with theft and Toffic charged with abetment of crime.

Both men have denied the charges in court. They are scheduled to return to court on December 16, 2024.

Their alleged accomplices - Desmond Appiah, Ernest Addo, Hamidu Nashiru Yabre, and two others identified only as Emma and Bash - are currently at large.

Police Chief Inspector Nashiru Salifu informed the court, presided over by Madam Enid Marful-Sau, that the complainant in the case is Alhaji Ali Seidu.

Zakary lives in Ashaiman and Toffic resides in Afrancho, a suburb of Kumasi.

Chief Inspector Salifu said Alhaji Seidu imported eight brand-new long King excavators and contracted Naskorsi Limited to handle the freight and transport the equipment to a warehouse at Dobro.

He stated that the freight forwarder cleared some of the shipping containers containing disassembled excavators at the Tema Harbour, but when the time came to transport them to the warehouse, they sought a long trailer.

Chief Inspector Salifu told the court that Zakary informed a Naskorsi staff member, who is also a witness in the case, that he knew a trailer driver, Desmond Appiah, who could transport one of the containers.

Zakary provided Appiah’s contact details, and on October 19, 2023, one of the containers, containing the USD 108,000 excavator, was loaded onto a DAF 95 trailer with a forged registration number (GN 7252-11) and driven by Zakary.

However, Zakary failed to deliver the excavator to the warehouse that evening, unlike the other seven containers that were successfully delivered.

A formal complaint was filed with the police when Zakary’s phone was turned off.

On October 26, 2023, the police received information that the container had been transported to Kumasi.

Investigations revealed that Zakary, Toffic, Appiah, and Addo had planned to sell the excavator, but the plot was foiled when Zakary and Toffic were arrested, while the others managed to escape.