9 Arrested For Illegal Connection In Tamale

In the Tamale metropolis, officials from the Northern Electricity Distribution Company (NEDCo) led a joint police and military operation against power theft. Nine suspects were arrested, and several others were told to show up in court.

48% of the electricity used in Tamale is lost through illegal connections.

The goal of the exercise was to stop people from getting around the new prepaid meters.

Illegal connections have been made to hundreds of the meters to change them.

They went to places like Sabon Zongo, Gulpela, Banvim, and Nyoni, which have the most power theft.

People from all walks of life fought hard against the operation.

But because the military was there, the angry customers didn't attack the operation team.

After the exercise, VRA-Northern NEDCO's Area Loss Control Officer Samuel Marvellous Kumi told reporters that power theft and illegal connections in Tamale are very scary.

"It's scary how often we lose. We are losing almost 48 to 49 percent of the power we buy.

"Every other house has an illegal connection, which costs the company millions of Cedis and makes you expect better services.

He said that if anyone is found to have messed with the new prepaid meters, the Company will punish them.

"We'll write a statement that we'll give to the police so that the suspects can be charged. This time, we're going to charge the suspects and then give them to the court so they can be punished by the law.

"By doing this, we are sending a strong message to the public, especially our customers, not to steal power, because anyone caught doing so will be punished severely.