The Guyana Telephone and Telegraph Company (GTT) on Thursday commended public spirited citizens and members of the law enforcement agencies for apprehending a
person reported for their cable theft.
The arrest followed closely on the heels of an offered reward of five hundred thousand dollars ($500,000) for information leading to the apprehension of the perpetrator.
Only last week, on September 12 and 13, 300 meters of cable were stolen at New Hope and Friendship on the East Bank of Demerara respectively. After the cable was cut and removed, more than 400 customers lost both voice and data services.
According to GTT in a release, within a day of that theft, information was received in response to the reward offer and led law enforcement officers to Pasha’s Scrap Yard in Albouystown where a purchaser of the stolen GTT cable was apprehended.
GTT CEO Justin Nedd was on Thursday in high praise of the swift response of the Guyana Police Force.
Nedd said, “While we remain disheartened by the continued acts of vandalism against our fibre infrastructure and theft of copper cable, we are heartened by the swift response of the police once we had received the information.”
GTT and law enforcement officers, buoyed by this arrest, continue to hunt for the saboteurs of the fibre network, he said.
At a joint media conference with GTT at the Ministry of Public Telecommunications in July, Minister Catherine Hughes had pledged government’s support in apprehending persons who damage GTT infrastructure, pointing out that there were stiff provisions in the law, referencing Section 131 of the Criminal Law Offenses Act Chapter 8:01.
CEO Justin Nedd also said, “we are also very happy with the support we got from the Government, especially from the Ministers of Public Security, Business, and Public Telecommunications during this episode. The government’s actions were in keeping with their commitments made in public.”
GTT announced the system of cash rewards at the July media conference in a push to ensure that “perpetrators of vandalism and theft are no longer able to undermine business and put citizens and public services at risk by bringing down the network for their own nefarious gain.”
