Two remanded over theft of copper wires

Two suspects engaged in a racket of cutting Sri Lanka Telecom telephone connection cables within the Nuwara Eliya municipal limits to remove and steal the copper wires inside were arrested by the Nuwara Eliya Police.

Our correspondent stated that these suspects were identified during investigations conducted into complaints received by the police on five occasions regarding the theft of copper wires by cutting Sri Lanka Telecom connection cables in areas including Nuwara Eliya Upper Lake Road and Sandathenna over the past nearly five months.

At the time of arresting the suspects, the police took into custody three kilograms of copper wire removed from the cables, 344 feet of non-copper wire, a stock of rubber covers from which copper wire had been removed, and two knives suspected to have been specially prepared to cut wire.

Police stated that the value of the stolen copper and other materials was not assessed yet, and necessary action for that will be taken after presenting the case exhibits to court.

A 40-year-old resident of the Kandapola area and a 30-year-old resident of the Hali-Ela area, who came to Nuwara Eliya for daily wage labour and temporarily resided in the Hawa Eliya area, were arrested in connection with this racket.

Nuwara Eliya Magistrate Buddhika Dharmadasa ordered that the two arrested suspects be remanded until the 31st of August after being presented to court.