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Technology Stocks : The *NEW* Frank Coluccio Technology Forum -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Frank A. Coluccio who wrote (17473)	10/26/2006 8:35:03 AM
From: Frank A. Coluccio	Respond to of 46821

[Kenya] Police Seize Stolen Copper Cable Bound for China [ not exactly The Maltese Falcon, but it'll do ... ] balancingact-africa.com Detectives investigating theft of telephone and electricity cables have impounded three containers with copper wires destined for China. The wires are suspected to have been stolen from Telkom Kenya and Kenya Power and Lighting Company (KPLC). Two containers with copper wires worth Sh14 million are being held at Kenya Ports Authority Inland depot at Embakasi in Nairobi. Another one is in Mombasa. The containers were being exported by a local company registered as a scrap metal dealer. Police raided a godown in Industrial Area, where the firm is based, and seized more cables at dawn last week. The theft syndicate has paralysed telephone and electricity services, particularly around Nairobi. Areas around Limuru and Muguga that were connected to the Kikuyu power substation had been without electricity for the past two weeks, said the KPLC Nairobi region manager, Joseph Njoroge. "Vandals steal transmission lines at night every time they are replaced," said Njoroge. Telkom loses Sh500 million each year as a result of telephone cable theft, said Managing Director Sammy Kirui. Last week's police action is a continuation of a massive operation launched last week and will be extended to other parts of the country. City businessman and politician Irshad Sumra has been charged in court with stealing telephone and power cables worth more than Sh10 million. He denied stealing 19.2 tonnes of Telkom Kenya cables valued at Sh9.6 million and was freed on a Sh1 million bond. Vijendra Kedia and Ajay Kumar Misra were also charged with stealing Telkom cables. Telkom Kenya has, in the recent past, reported an increase in cases of underground telephone cables being stolen in Nairobi and other parts of the country. About 5,000 telephone lines in the city have been rendered useless after the theft of cables last week. The hardest hit areas are Kasarani, Zimmerman, Ngong, Karen, Waithaka, Kawangware, Dagoretti and Embakasi. The investigations have revealed that some businessmen licensed to export copper buy cables from vandals at about Sh200 for a kilo then smelt the wires for export at about Sh7 million per container. The illegal trade, Kirui noted, had grounded Telkom's expansion programme because most of the employees have been deployed to restore services. This illegal trade has been encouraged by high copper prices brought on by China’s rapid economic expansion over the last three years/ (SOURCE: The Nation)