– Two suspects have been arrested by officers of the Hatton Police Criminal Investigation Division for allegedly cutting, burning, and stealing telephone cables belonging to the Hatton Telecom office in the Norwood, Maskeliya and Castlereagh areas.

Police said the arrests were made yesterday (16) following initial investigations into a racket involving the nighttime cutting of underground telephone cables and selling the extracted copper.Hatton Telecom Company had earlier lodged a complaint with the Hatton Police reporting that large stretches of telephone cables laid from Hatton to provide customer connections in Norwood, Maskeliya and Castlereagh had been cut and removed by an organized group.

Acting on information received from Hatton Senior Superintendent of Police Pradeep Weerasekara, officers of the Hatton Police CID, under the supervision of Hatton Headquarters Chief Inspector W.R.A.D. Sugathadasa, searched a house in the Norwood Upkat area belonging to the suspects.During the search, police recovered a stock of cut telephone cables valued at around Rs. 4 million, which had been hidden inside the house, officers said.Investigations have revealed that the suspects, aged 51 and 28, melted the stolen cables and sold the extracted copper at around Rs. 2,500 per kilogram.

The suspects are scheduled to be produced before the Hatton Magistrate’s Court.