A 33-year-old scrap dealer who allegedly stole an iPhone belonging to American rapper Meek Mills during an event at Independence Square has been remanded into police custody.

Nuhu Sulley was charged with stealing when he appeared before an Accra Circuit Court but denied the charge.

He is expected to reappear before the court presided over by Mr Samuel Bright Acquah on January 17.

Sulley’s defence council’s application for bail was turned down by the court on the grounds that the case was still under investigation.

The court directed the prosecution to file disclosures.

The defence council earlier prayed the court to grant Sulley bail because he had a fixed place of abode, and he had sureties present in court to execute his bail.

According to the council, he was not a flight risk and would readily avail himself when needed by the court.

However, Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP), Maxwell Oppong, vehemently opposed the grant of the bail, saying the Police were conducting further investigations into the matter.

ASP Oppong held that the accused person was a flight risk, and he would not appear to stand trial when granted bail considering the severity of the offence.

The prosecution further submitted that the Police were taking Sulley through its systems to ascertain his fingerprints in relation to other cases under investigation.

The prosecution said the complainant was Akwasi Agyeman, the Chief executive officer (CEO) of Ghana Tourism Authority, who resides at Abelemkpe, Accra.

The prosecution said on December 29, 2022, the complainant organised a musical show at Independence Square which hosted Meek Mills.

It said at about 8:20 pm on the same day, while Mills was making his way through the heavy crowd onto the stage, the accused person who was among the crowd allegedly stole the iPhone 14 Pro max mobile phone valued at GHC 22,000 from Mills’ pocket.

The prosecution said the accused person after stealing the phone left the scene.

It said the same day, the complainant reported the matter to the Police and through intelligence, the phone was tracked and traced to the residence of the accused person at Madina.

The prosecution said Sulley was arrested on December 30, 2022.

It said during investigations the accused person admitted the offence.

Meek Mill wants ‘suspect’ released

The American rapper, Meek Mill has made a U-turn over how he lost his iPhone on Thursday, December 29, 2022, before his performance at the afro Nation concert.

He announced on Instagram that he had been pickpocketed and his phone stolen in the process.

In about 24 hours, an appeal by musician Shatta Wale, reportedly led to the retrieval of the phone.

But when it was believed that the dust had settled on the matter, the police announced last Friday evening (December 30) the arrest of one Nuhu Sulley alias Ababaawa, as the suspected thief of the phone.

In a tweet hours after the police announcement, Mill said he was not even sure how he lost the phone and that all he needed was to get it back. He tweeted:

“I coulda dropped that phone on a dirt bike I don’t actually know for a fact somebody went in my pocket! I got it back that’s all I needed. I don’t need anybody locked up for a phone…I don’t even know what happened to it”.
Meek Mill