Police Bust Cable Theft Syndicate, Seven Arrested In Setapak
KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 13 (Bernama) -- Police busted a syndicate that was active around the capital, stealing Telekom Malaysia (TM) cables, by arresting seven local men in two separate raids in Setapak, here, last Tuesday and yesterday.
Wangsa Maju District Police Chief ACP Mohamad Lazim Ismail said the group is believed to have been active for the past year and is thought to have caused the company an estimated loss of RM300,000.
"In the first raid in the Setapak area at 5 am last Tuesday, six local men were detained while they were cutting underground cables without any permission or permit from TM. Checks revealed that none of them possessed any permit or authorisation from TM to carry out work at the said location," he said in a press conference here today.
He said following investigations from the first arrest, police conducted a follow-up raid at another location in Setapak at about 1.15 pm yesterday and arrested one more local man, aged 42, who admitted to being the caretaker of the premises.
"The location is believed to have been used as a place to process the stolen cables. The man was detained, and police seized 30 pieces of cable casings that had been cut short, six sheets of aluminium wrapping, and a bundle of copper wire with an estimated weight of 10 kilograms," he said.
Mohamad Lazim said investigations revealed that the group would identify TM manholes before placing cones in the surrounding area, making it appear as if they were conducting maintenance work.
"Some of the suspects would enter the manhole to cut the cable, while others would use a lorry to pull the cable out.
"The cut cables would then be brought to a processing location, usually near a construction site, to be burned to separate the copper before being sold to scrap metal dealers at a price of about RM16 per kilogram," he said.
All suspects, aged between 17 and 42, are now remanded for one to three days for further investigation under Section 379 of the Penal Code.
-- BERNAMA
