Reward to catch cable vandals

 By GYNNIE KERO

A K30,000 reward is awaiting anyone who could provide information leading to the successful prosecution of individuals sabotaging the telephone cables, Telikom PNG says.

The state-owned telecommunications provider earlier said that continuous vandalism of its cable lines was “a deliberate action taken by individuals or a group of people, which has become a common occurrence”.

Last month, six cable lines were destroyed by fire, preventing business houses in Port Moresby from accessing the internet, email and telephone.

“The reward is offered due to the continuing vandalism on our cables in the National Capital District and other centres,” Telikom said.

Chairman Mahesh Patel said from China yesterday Telikom had spent a huge amount of money to reinstall the cable network.

“Ongoing vandalism of such company properties affects a lot of innocent customers, business houses and public institutions such as schools by depriving them from receiving a daily vital service,” he said.

“Issue is that at times, this has been of major national interest, where major institutions have been impacted, where lives could be at risk if hospitals are out of reach … and banks and busineness affected.”