Four of gang held for stealing BSNL cables in Chandigarh

The accused were nabbed in Ghaziabad, UP, and brought to Chandigarh. They were produced before a court, which sent them to six-day police custody

Almost a week after 16 quintals of underground BSNL cables were stolen from Sectors 4 and 10, the police arrested four persons for the theft on Wednesday.

BSNL cables were stolen from Sectors 4 and 10.

The accused, identified as Manjoor Alam Haq, 46 of Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar residents Shajid, 29, Toshiq, 21, and Tahmid, are part of a gang involved in stealing underground cables using rented JCB machines and impersonation, police said.

They were arrested by the police from Ghaziabad and brought to Chandigarh. The accused were on Wednesday produced before the court and remanded to six-day police custody.

Call to hire JCB helped nail accused

The police traced the accused with help of a phone call made by the accused to hire the JCB machine used in the crime. Police used the phone number and tracked down the thieves. They were on their way to sell the stolen network cables to a scarp dealer in Ghaziabad when the arrests were made.

Police said the accused used to work as labourers in Chandigarh and knew cable-laying work.

Theft disrupted internet services

On April 8, the thieves had managed to steal around 16 quintals of underground BSNL cables using a JCB machine in Sector 4 and 10. As a result, internet connection of various government offices was disrupted.

Police said cables from the rear of the BSNL office in Sector 4 and from near a petrol pump in Sector 10 were stolen. Internet services of Punjab and Haryana High Court, Haryana Vidhan Sabha and other government offices were disrupted. The police had registered a case under Section 379 of IPC at Sector 3 police station.

Role in other crimes suspected

Meanwhile, police will be questioning the accused with regards to another cable theft bid in Manimajra. An attempt to steal around 400 metres of wire from Manimajra was reported on the intervening night of March 21-22, but the suspects had fled the scene after being spotted by a passerby. A case was registered under sections 379, 427 and 511 of the IPC at Manimajra police station on April 11.

The gang is also suspected to be involved in the theft of a quintal of wires which were stolen from the rear of Punjab Police headquarters in Sector 9 last year.