A Marsascala man was caught red-handed attempting to steal underground copper cables in the early hours of Saturday morning, with police also arresting two suspected accomplices.
The suspects are believed to have cut through a fibre optic cable in their attempt to steal the copper, cutting off internet connectivity for GO Internet customers in Valletta and Floriana in the process.
Police said in a statement that they were called to an area close to Argotti Gardens at around 4am after receiving a report about an attempted theft of copper cables.
Officers entered tunnels in the area and spotted a man, who is 39 and from Marsascala, carrying copper cables. He tried to hide but eventually emerged and gave himself up.
The police officers continued to search inside the tunnels and eventually came across two other men hiding: a 30-year-old Żejtun man and a 35-year-old Nigerian national.
All three were arrested and taken to the Valletta police station for further questioning. They are likely to be arraigned later on Saturday.
The attempted robbery had a knock-on effect on hundreds of residents, with GO customers in Valletta and Floriana left without internet as a result.
In a company statement, GO said that its technicians had been onsite since 2am and had alerted the police after discovering the cut cable. Technicians could only begin work to repair the cable once police forensic teams had completed their assessments.
‘It is extremely disappointing and disheartening that such incidents keep on occurring. This is not the first time that our services have been impacted due to theft attempts. These individuals do not realise that they are tampering with critical infrastructure that supports civil protection units and other services, on which the country and its people depend,’ a GO spokesperson said.
The spokesperson asked for customers’ patience and understanding while technicians worked to restore service.
“Our teams are on site and are doing everything they possibly can to restore the services in as short as time as is reasonably possible. Services will start to be restored in the coming hours.”
"It is also extremely frustrating for us too since our resources need to be reallocated to fixing this unanticipated and deliberate damage instead of focusing our efforts on servicing our customers, and the country, not to mention the significant costs to repair which could have been invested elsewhere," the spokesperson said.