By Sue-Ann Wayow
GOVERNMENT must act now to stop the theft of copper nationwide as it has become a national emergency.
This is according to Member of Parliament for Mayaro Rushton Paray who says that the theft of copper was “an ever-worsening crisis.”
In a release on Tuesday, Paray said in his constituency of Mayaro, as in other areas criminals were brazenly stealing copper cables to retail to the scrap iron industry. In the process, fibre optic cables were also damaged.
Paray said, “In addition to severing telephone services, the copper criminals are also disrupting internet connectivity, thus affecting businesses, households, and students. Cable Television providers are also adversely impacted, requiring technical crews to be dispatched often in the middle of the night, to restore service.”
He said, “This crime has become a national emergency, and decisive action by the authorities is long overdue.”
Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley’s recent promise of impending action has not curbed the ongoing night-time crime of cable theft and destruction in several Mayaro communities and across the country, Paray said.
He is asking that the Government work with the Scrap Iron Dealers Association to bring an end to the destruction of vital infrastructural resources.
In addition, the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service must also improve its surveillance and its arrests of copper criminals, Paray said.
“It is unacceptable that this offence is taking place in a modern society and under the eyes of the national authorities,” he said.
