BY C.J.MCGINLEY
A LOCAL Councillor has described the theft of over 400 metres of telephone cable from poles between Manorcunningham and Newtowncunningham as ‘beyond belief’.
The wire was removed from poles along the Drumbarnet road, close to Colm Dillon’s car showroom in the early hours of Sunday morning.
Local Councillor Paul Canning, said at least three men must have been involved.
“It is hard to fathom why people do this because there is no great price to be got for copper. The cable is up a fair height so it would take a few men- possibly three- to do it,” he said.
“It would take at least an hour to do this crime, so maybe somebody saw something that could help the gardai. The cost of repairing it will be in the thousands. For a lot of people it will also be a great inconvenience to be without their phone,” he added.
Cllr Canning, said he had informed Eircom about the incident and engineers-crewmen were on site on Monday to repair the damage.
Sinn Féin Cllr Jack Murray has called for Donegal scrap dealers to look out for anyone who could be selling stolen cable lines.
“The theft of phone line cables is not a victimless crime. Many elderly people in south Inishowen who do not have mobile phones are now unable to contact, family members, doctors and other emergency services.
“This will cause hardship to many vulnerable people in the local community. I would call on scrap dealers, who deal in copper, to look out for anyone who could be selling stolen phone lines. Those people who are stealing these phone lines are making profit from it somewhere and I would ask anyone with any information to come forward immediately.” he added.
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