The Ashaiman Circuit Court presided over by His Worship Mr. Derrick Parden Eshun has sentenced a 20-year-old scrap dealer, Tahiru Issah, to 12 months in prison with hard labour.

The conviction follows his guilty plea to the charge of stealing when he appeared before the court on March 5, 2025.

Chief Inspector Henry Tetteh Nartey, prosecuting, said Tahiru is a Nigerien who resides at Fitter Line, a suburb of Ashaiman, adding that on February 26, 2025, the Gbetsile District Police were on their usual night patrol duty when they spotted him holding a black polythene bag containing some heavy items.

The prosecutor added that the police became suspicious, apprehended him, and searched the polythene bag where they discovered six stopcocks, six safety valves and one return valve, amounting to GHS3,250.00 belonging to the Ghana Water Limited.

The facts stated that the police subsequently arrested him and sent him to the Afienya Police Station, indicating that upon interrogation, the suspect admitted to stealing the items from some residents living in the area.

He was therefore charged with stealing and put into custody, where he was later processed for court.

Meanwhile, Dr. Samuel Eson, the Regional Chief Manager, for the Tema Region of GWL, has expressed gratitude to the court for the judgement, adding that the company has, in recent times, experienced a lot of meter-stealing cases, which have impacted negatively on their operations.

He appealed to residents to always be vigilant and report such suspected persons to the police, while cautioning scrap dealers and persons involved in stealing GWL installations to put a stop to it, as when apprehended they would be made to face the full rigours of the law.