Ghana Cell Phone Thieves

Tuesday, May 09, 2006

A ring of cell phone thievery is becoming a growing concern in Ghana. Cell phones are becoming increasingly popular in this African country and a lot of this demand is fed by crime. Cell phones that are stolen within Europe are transported to Ghana and then sold to the public.

But the cell phone thievery does not stop there. Street cell phone crime is very common in Ghana with young gangs often aged around 14 stealing cell phones on the street. There are reports of people being held at knife point to give up their cell phone. Cell phone street crime has become more popular than stealing wallets since they are easier to steal and in the most part worth a lot more.

Many of the cell phones end up in second hand markets such as Accra's Tiptoe Lane. These are well known for the trades of goods with questionable origin. This mixture of organized cell phone crime importing considerable volumes of cell phones from Europe and the cell phone street crime does not look set to change any time soon.