The New Juaben South Municipal Police Command has arrested a 33-year-old suspect Ibrahim Matawakiru for allegedly ransacking some shops along the Legion hall -Adwenpa stretch in the Koforidua Central Business District.
The suspect is currently in police custody and is being processed for court.
Preliminary investigation by Police says the suspect broke into several shops through their ceilings on December 27,2025 and ransacked them over the weekend after he conducted surveillance for 11 days.
His modus operandi involves traveling to targeted towns and identify vulnerable shops to attack through roofing sheets and ceilings.
The suspect confessed planning to execute the operation over three days, however intensified police patrols prevented his escape, leaving him trapped in the ceiling until shop owners discovered the break in and alerted police on Monday morning.
He was arrested by the police while hiding in the reinforced concrete ceiling of a rural bank.
Exhibits retrieved from a concealed sack include Two (2) hacksaw blades, One (1) hammer
,One (1) metal punch,
Two (2) screwdrivers
One (1) crowbar,
Assorted keys of different types, One (1) pair of pliers,
One (1) keypad mobile phone,
One (1) pair of scissors,
One (1) grinding machine,
Two (2) grinding wheels,
Three (3) wooden hammer handles, and Cash of GH 9,133.00
The Police is urging shop owners and residents to remain vigilant, especially during the festive season.
“During festive occasions, these criminals intensify their activities, especially from tomorrow December 31st to January 1st many would leave for Church, I advise that, someone stays at home to stop criminals from having a field day to steal. Those who own shops too, I urge them to upgrade the nature of their ceilings, use iron rods or burglar roof to the ceiling, so that the criminals would not have easy access into the shop. ” New Juaben South Municipal Police Commander Superintendent Ransford Nsiah, cautioned.
New Juaben South Crime officer ASP Asante Kusi Augustine pointed out, “one of the shop keepers saw the guy monitoring their activities but failed to question him. Residents or shop must report such acts”
He added owning Closed Circuit Television (CCTV ) is not enough “Again we realized that the cameras where only on the items in the shop and corridor, meanwhile the guy was on the street monitoring them for 11days, we strongly advice that people should extend their CCTV unto the streets, review your CCTV on daily basis to take measures to forestall such robbery. Some shops had CCTV that was not working, others didn’t have decoders to store enough videos for review, we should not just take fun in having CCTV.”
