Police arrest two with 4 tons of phone cables, manhole covers

Santo Domingo.- The National Police announced the confiscation of a container outside a warehouse and another inside with a Seeyes brand power plant and nearly four tons of wires of various types, among them thick cables used by the telecoms Claro and Tricom in their telephone networks.

It said it arrested three men, among them a Haitian during raids over the weekend in stores located in the barrio Los Frailes II in Santo Domingo East, and a scrap metal yard in Sabana Perdida, Santo Domingo North, where they also seized a Mitsubishi SUV and 11 steel manhole covers.

The Police said arrested were Ironés Florestol, 28, employee of the store in Los Frailes II, Victor Manuel Figueroa, 25, and Rogelio Felix Pena, 25, both employees of the metal yard Inversiones Santos del Rosario, in Sabana Perdida, owned by Ricardo de los Santos (Guancho), who fled during the raid.

In a statement, the Police said the raid turned up steel grills and more telephone cables hidden in underground tanks.

Metal thieves have ravaged structures ranging from bridges to power line towers during the last few years