Mr Samuel Owusu-Berko, Ho Municipal Police Commander, has appealed to residents of the municipality to avoid dangling their valuables as they walk the streets at night in view of the increasing cases of street muggings.
He said there was upsurge in attacks on residents in dark alleys and sometimes in the open and their valuables such as mobile phones, ornaments and money taken away from them.
Mr Owusu-Berko, who spoke to the GNA in an interview, mentioned Anlo-Kordzi, RTC, Central Market and Civics Centre areas as becoming
increasingly unsafe for residents at night.
He said the modus operandi of the criminals was to waylay passers-by in the dark alleys and descend on them at knife point to surrender their
valuable.
Mr Owusu-Berko said an officer of the Ghana Immigration Service (GIS) and his fiancé were recently attacked and their mobile phones wrenched from them.
He said the police had stepped up patrols and were on the track of the criminals and needed public support by way of information.
Mr Owusu-Berko said residents should be careful about security in their homes to counteract the increasing incidents of break-ins.
He said the break-ins were happening in the day and night and in many cases the miscreants strike even when occupants were in, cutting through burglar proofs to pick valuables.
He told the GNA that a 17-year-old boy is in the grips of the Ho Police for allegedly picking a lady's handbag from her car near the Ho Municipal Hospital.
Mr Owusu-Berko said Semebia, who sneaked away thinking it was a deed accomplished, hid in plantain grooves nearby to inspect contents of the bag.
He said a passer-by was intrigued by the spectacle of a young man peering into a ladies bag and raised the alarm and Semebia was arrested.
Mr Owusu-Berko said just then the owner of the bag used her office line to call her mobile phone and one of those who arrested Semebia received the call and directed her to the scene of arrest.
The bag contained one Nokia phone and 350 cedis.