"We made the arrest on Friday, at 3:30 p.m. local time, after the supervisor of PT Trias Endi, who is a Telkom partner, reported the matter to the headquarter," Bangka Belitung Provincial Navy Base Commander Colonel Iwa Kartiwa noted here on Monday.
The officers have seized evidence, such as three cables and detained five people in the Toboali Navy Monitoring Post before they forwarded the case to the South Bangka Resort Police.
"We have seized three windings of cable that are around 600 meters in length. The initials of the perpetrators are RD, FR, RZ, KY, and UC," Iwa remarked.
The perpetrators were caught stealing the cables at a distance of 2 kilometers from the Sukadamai coast with precise geographical coordinates at 03.07.023 S-106.27.406 E.
"The suspects who work for an offshore tin mine admitted that they had committed the crime when their pontoon drifted out to sea, and the anchor got lodged on the cable," Iwa stated.
He further explained that they pulled the cable into the pontoon and cut it into three sections.
Iwa noted that they were planning to sell the cables to a scrap collector.
The Navy arrested the perpetrators when they were conducting their activities, and the cable was on board the pontoon.
"I had rebuked the suspects. However, they were not heedful of the warnings. The Navy then arrived at the location and arrested them," Iwa stated.
Meanwhile, the Operation Staff Officer Mayor Oktaf Bayu Dirgantara along with Toboali Navy Post Commander Sasongko noted that the thieves were traced after receiving a report from Jakarta, which stated that the connection has been disconnected at a distance of 2 kilometers from the Sukadamai coast.
"We are still investigating the suspects. After we have completed the inspection of the suspects and evidence, we will hand them over to the police," he emphasized. (*)
Editor: Heru Purwanto
Copyright © ANTARA 2014
