If you noticed the lights out in a portion of Highway 19 earlier this week, it’s because of thieves.
So say police who say that thieves made off with over 2,500 metres of copper wire on Tuesday night near Lantzville at the Ware Road intersection. The wire was removed from 20 lamp standards and 12 junction boxes, which put the entire intersection into darkness.
Reserve Constable Gary O’Brien says that the job would have taken a fair bit of manpower.
O’Brien says, “Given the shear volume of copper wire that was removed, the process would have taken a considerable amount of time and energy, and would have required at least a large full-size truck and a minimum of two people.”
Anyone who saw anything matching that description in the area is asked to contact Nanaimo RCMP on their non-emergency line at 250-754-2345.
The wiring has since been replaced with aluminum, which has comparatively no market value to the stolen copper. Other security features have been put into place to prevent more thefts from occurring.
