THIEVES HAVE, in recent times, turned their attention to the Airport Police Barracks in Accra despite the fact that the whole area is fenced, DAILY GUIDE investigations have revealed.
According to a police source that wants to remain unnamed, the cases had become so numerous that personnel and their families, some of whom had fallen victim to the rampant incidents of theft, had virtually lost count of them.
Two weeks ago, the motorbike of a police man at Block Four was stolen by a man who intentionally wore a crash helmet and came and confidently rode the bike away as if it was his.
In the same week, thieves broke into a hairdressing salon and made away with weave-on wigs and a variety of cream and chemicals.
On the dawn of Friday, 4th May, 2012, the two side mirrors of a car belonging to a police woman, the parts of a Mercedes Benz of a Corporal and those of a senior officer were all stolen while it was raining.
Last year, the brazen hoodlums stole the two side mirrors of the personal Toyota Corolla of the then District Police Commander, which his driver, Joseph Lartey, had parked behind Block Three.
In the same period, thieves broke into the car of a police woman and stole her money and the grocery she was sending to a relative at Nsawam the following day.
A policeman who was also a student at Accra Polytechnic had his school fees stolen from his room.
Not too long after that incident, thieves embarked on a dawn swoop and stole a gas cylinder or two, on the average, from each of the blocks at the barracks.
�Ever since that incident, some people are compelled to carry their gas cylinders to the bedroom every evening and back to the kitchen every morning since it appears the thieves have sophisticated gadgets which make mincemeat of every type of padlock,� said one victim.
The source said one senior officer called Gyan who used to stay at the Officers� Flats had his car gadgets stolen on several occasions before he finally relocated to another place.
DAILY GUIDE checks at the Airport Police Station during the weekend indicated that there were �not less than six complaints� of car gadgets-related thefts in the Barracks.
Although no particular person has been arrested and prosecuted regarding these thefts, many personnel suspect that they are perpetuated by the numerous men who have virtually turned the Barracks into their squatting place both day and night.
These men, not personnel, loiter all the time. In the afternoon, they sit at two places � a spot called Bush Canteen or under a tree at a drinking base between Blocks Three and Four.
�It is so disheartening that police personnel literally bend over backwards to provide security to other neighbourhoods only to be haunted by insecurity in their own backyard from a group of scoundrels who probably have nothing to lose even if jailed for life,� said a disturbed officer who recently had his car tape stolen.
When contacted a day before his transfer, the outgoing Airport District Police Commander, Anderson Fosu-Ackah, denied having any knowledge of the serial theft cases recorded at the barracks.
However, his driver confirmed that his commander�s car in his care had the side mirrors indeed stolen.
It is however not clear if he fixed new ones for fear of a probable action his boss might take against him since his boss told DAILY GUIDE he did not recall being a victim of any such theft.
Source: A Daily Guide Report
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