Tracking device exposes phone thief

Source: Daily Graphic Ghana  -  A tracking device on a stolen mobile phone has led to the arrest of one of the men who allegedly engaged in a theft.

The suspect, Daniel Kwame Duncan, a trader at Tema Community One, and his two accomplices were said to have broken into the room of a lady at Awudome Estates in Accra about 3 a.m. on April 21, 2015 while she was sleeping.

With the assistance of the two accomplices, who are currently on the run, Duncan was said to have made away with a Nexus 6 mobile phone valued at GH¢ 2,000, three other mobile phones, a flat screen television, a DVD player, a Dell laptop and an amount of GH¢4,800.

Unknown to the suspects, the Nexus mobile phone had a tracking device which made pictures and other activities undertaken with the phone available on the linked device, which was still in the possession of the victim.

Briefing the Daily Graphic, the Public Relations Officer of the Accra Regional?Police Command, Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) Affia Tenge, said on April 21, the victim woke up from her sleep and saw three young men leaving her room.

They escaped before neighbours, who heard her shouts for help, arrived at the scene.

ASP Tenge said when the victim later inspected the house, she detected that the main door to her room had been broken and the items and cash stolen.

She later lodged a complaint with the police.

ASP Tenge said with the assistance of the tracking device, it was detected that the suspects had sought refuge in an area called Tuobodom, near Odawna in Accra.

After a week, it was realised that the location of the suspects had changed as the tracking device showed that the phone had moved to Community One, Site 18, in Tema.

Soon, the victim who had linked the tracking system of the phone to her laptop with the help of a software application started receiving pictures of a man who turned out to be the suspect and his pregnant wife.

More pictures of other people who were believed to be relatives of Duncan and “selfies” were also sent to the victim and other relatives.

The pictures and directions of the location of the phone, ASP Tenge said, were printed out and used to facilitate the arrest of Duncan about 9 a.m. on May 2, 2015.

“On that day, policemen armed with concrete information from the tracking device went to the exact house of the accused person at Community One Site 18, Tema, where one person who had taken more pictures with the phone was arrested,” she said, adding that the man was identified as William Kwasi Duncan, a brother of the suspect.

Mrs Tenge said Kwasi Duncan pleaded innocence but with his collaboration and those of other family members, Duncan was arrested from his hideout at the Kwame Nkrumah Circle.

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