A 52-year-old man has been arrested after police found two pieces of copper wire suspected to be linked to the recent theft of copper cables from the Bharrat Jagdeo Demerara River Bridge.
The man was taken into custody after police ranks, acting on information from the ongoing investigation, searched a location at Tuschen, East Bank Essequibo on Wednesday, September 2, about 10:20pm. The copper wire was photographed and lodged as part of the investigation.
Police on Wednesday reported that detectives in Regional Police Division #4’B’ are investigating the alleged theft of 90 feet of 4/350 KCMIL copper cable, valued at approximately $1,620,000, from the bridge on the East Bank Demerara, sometime between 12am on August 23 and 9am on September 1.
The bridge is equipped with LED lights attached to steel poles along its high span, powered by a generator beneath the bridge and used to display various colours. The lights were last operated on August 23.
At about 6:30pm on August 31, an electrical maintenance engineer attempted to illuminate the bridge in the colours of Trinidad and Tobago’s national flag in observance of that country’s Independence Anniversary, but only the lights on the northern side were functioning. At approximately 9am the following day, the engineer and his team inspected the southern side and discovered that the copper cables had been cut and removed from the metal trunking box.
The matter was reported to the Providence Police Station at about 9:30am, and detectives visited, photographed and processed the scene. CCTV footage is currently being reviewed.
Investigations are continuing.
