A 24-year-old labourer has been remanded into prison custody by the Asante Abuakwa circuit court in the Atwima Nwabiagya South Municipality for allegedly stealing five mobile phones at Asakraka, near Abuakwa.

James Mensah pleaded not guilty to the charge of stealing and will reappear before the court presided over by Jephthah Appau on October 03, this year.

Police Chief Inspector Evans Ayimbisa, prosecuting, told the court that the complainants, Richard Opoku, Francis Mensah, John Bonayaa, and William Yenkyeibe, were small-scale miners residing in Asakraka, while the suspect was a labourer living in a cottage near their mining site.

He said, on September 08, this year, at about 20 hours, the complainants kept their one iPhone 13, two iPhone 12 Pro Maxes, one Samsung Galaxy S21, and one Samsung A8 cell phone, all valued at GHC 35,700 in a bag, placed it at a spot, and busily engaged in their mining.

Prosecution said the complainants saw the suspect roaming near the spot and later detected the theft of the bag containing the phones and, in their search, found it empty and abandoned in the bush.

The complainants suspected Mensah, who had then left the cottage for about a week.

He was found later at Asakraka, and he was arrested and handed over to the Atwima Kokoben police.

In his caution statement, he admitted to stealing and said he sold two of the phones at GHc 1,050, swapped one for an Infinix cell phone at Adum-PZ, and spent the proceeds.

Prosecution said the suspect could not assist the police in getting the unidentified dishonest receiver.

After further investigations, he was charged and brought before the court.