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Three scrap dealers at Kumasi in the Ashanti Region, charged with stealing an excavator machine valued �6.5 million Ghana cedis, have been remanded into prison custody by a Tarkwa Circuit Court. The accused, Jabil Ibrahim Baba, 23, Shaibu Yakubu, 27 and Kofi Minta, 27, pleaded not guilty to the charged. Prosecuting, Police Chief Inspector Oscar Amponsah told the court presided by Mr. Justice Obeng Asante, that the complainant, Bismark Danso, was an excavator operator, who lived at Wassa Hemang in the Western Region. He said in 2013, the complainant parked his faulty Kamatsu Excavator Machine at Wassa Hemang for repairs. Chief Inspector Amponsah said at about 2000 hours on September 24, this year, the accused persons and other accomplices, Kwaku and Edma, who are on the run, met at Wassa Hemang and agreed to steal the complainant�s machine. He said Jabil and Saibu engaged Kofi to convey them with a "Set of gas cutting machine" from Kumasi to Wassa Hemang with his Opel Astra taxi with registration number GT 1220-U. He said Jabil and Shaibu used the machine to cut the Kamatsu Excavator machine into pieces and damaged it. Chief Inspector Amponsah said a witness in the case, who saw the accused persons busily cutting the excavator machine in the night, informed the complainant. He said the complainant with the assistance of the Unit Committee Members of Wassa Hemang arrested the accused persons but Kwaku and Edma managed to escape. Chief Inspector Amponsah said the accused persons were handed over to the Police at Wassa Akropong and they were detained to assist in investigation. The Prosecutor said the taxi and gas cutting machine used by the accused persons in committing the crime had been, subsequently, impounded.