11 caught over copper cable theft in George Town

GEORGE TOWN: Nineteen people have been nabbed over an alleged theft of copper cables belonging to Telekom Malaysia.

A sub-contractor and 10 others were caught red-handed in a raid on Jan 10 by a team from the George Town police headquarters’ Criminal Investigation Department (CID), said Penang police chief Comm Datuk Mohd Shuhaily Mohd Zain.

“They were caught while cutting and removing underground copper cables at about 2.30am at the junction of Jalan Tanjung Bungah Park,” he said.

Comm Mohd Shuhaily said the 11 people had pretended to be contractors and workers.

All of them failed to show any documents to indicate that they had the authority to carry out work for Telekom Malaysia, he told a press conference yesterday.

Comm Mohd Shuhaily said that investigations led to the arrests of eight others who were picked up around Sungai Petani, Kedah.

Overall, all the suspects were arrested in Penang and Kedah, he added.

He said the syndicate disguised themselves as Telekom Malaysia maintenance workers when stealing the copper cables, adding that the total losses were estimated to be about RM910,448.

A lorry and three cars were among the items seized when the suspects were arrested, he added.

Comm Mohd Shuhaily said that 65 copper cables with the word Telekom Malaysia on them, 14 handphones, safety wear, beacon lamps, steel cutters, pipe cutters, saws, pliers, steel hooks and chains were also seized along with two manhole keys, a parang and an axe.

Once the syndicate obtained the copper, the other parts would be disposed of at sites in Sungai Petani and Kuala Ketil, Kedah, he said.

With the arrests, he said that police believed they had solved 27 copper cable theft cases; 17 in Penang and 10 in Kedah.

He also said that the urine test results for seven of the suspects came back positive for methamphetamine.

On the investigation, Comm Mohd Shuhaily said that the case is probed under Section 379 of the Penal Code for theft.