Wa: Robbers bolt with 17 laptops from Junior High School

Armed robbers have broken into an office at the Methodist Junior High School in Wa and taken away 17 laptops.

Seven other laptops were left behind, apparently because the robbers could not carry all at a go.

All 24 computers were said to be locked in a special safe seemingly designed for the purpose.

The safe looked to have been forced open, and their locks now stuck in a manner that prevents them from responding to the turn of key.

The robbers left behind heavy metals which might have been used to break the padlocks on the iron guardrails fitted as cover for the doors.

The broke four padlocks on two metal gates to gain entry into what had looked like a secured headmaster’s office.

The robbers, said to number six, tied watchman Abu Tijani’s hands behind him and forced him to lie prostrate on the floor when his emergence appeared to interrupt their operation.

The Headmaster of the school, Mr Aaron Sigey Sonne, told Daily Graphic that the incident had shaken the system and left them unsure of the security of other items on the premises.

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The rlg laptops were provided by the Ghana Education Service in 2013 and had been the Information Communication Technology (ICT) teaching and learning material for teachers and students over the years, according to the headmaster.

The school shares a common compound with the Methodist Church, and the watchman – hired by the Church to guard an office – also takes care of the school.

The watchman is said to have heard a strange sound around the headmaster’s office in the night of the robbery day, and as he approached the area, the robbers pounced on him and overpowered him.

Three of the robbers were made to stand and watch over him as he laid on the floor with hands tied at his back, and mouth covered with a rag.

A police source confirmed the story and said they were still investigating.

The source said no arrests had been made so far.

Mr Sigey Sonne appealed to the public to help the school re-equip its computer lab to return the teaching and learning of ICT to shape.