The incident unfolded after residents, alarmed by a recent spike in thefts, organized a surveillance operation to monitor suspicious activity.

Their efforts paid off when they apprehended the two individuals attempting to leave the scene with a bag full of stolen electrical cables worth thousands of cedis.

Before being handed over to the police, the suspects faced the wrath of angry residents, who subjected them to a round of intense beating.

The duo has since been taken into police custody, where investigations are ongoing to determine their involvement in other reported theft cases in the area.

Meanwhile, the police have urged the public to avoid taking the law into their own hands and report criminal activities promptly.

Simon Kwamina Atta, 49, a coconut seller, and Osama Adamu, 19, a scrap dealer, were arrested last Saturday at Mpeasem, near Half Assini in the Jomoro Municipality in the Western Region.

The electrical cables were found in concealed raffia huts on the outskirts of the town.

When a search was conducted in their rooms some of the fibre optic cables and cutters were found by the officials of the NIB with the assistance of the police and the Ghana Navy based on a month-long intelligent gathering.

The owner of the hut, David Kaku, who was nursing a leg injury, told the police that he rented his hut to some Nigerien scrap dealers in the area.

These hoodlums have started a grand operation of stealing electricity cables that are connected to the street lights in the city.

Their actions have led to several streets in the city being plunged into darkness, especially at night, creating security problems.

The Kumasi Mayor, Sam Pyne, who confirmed the report on Abusua FM, bemoaned that the cable theft is indeed biting the city very hard.

According to him, cable theft was rampant all over Garden City but Nhyiaeso Constituency was the worst affected area.

“Yes some of the streets look dark at night due to the lack of street lights but the problem is being caused by some unknown cable thieves.

“These people are mainly operating in the Nhyiaeso Constituency which is why some of the streets in that area look dark at night nowadays.”

He said Stephen Amoah aka ‘Sticker’, the Nhyiaeso Constituency Member of Parliament, has told the KMA to use part of his common fund to replace the stolen cables.

Mr Pyne, who was speaking with Kojo Marfo, noted that the KMA has teamed up with the security agencies to arrest the cable thieves.

According to him, the arrest of the cable thieves would surely lead to Kumasi looking brighter than ever, especially during the night hours.