Scrap-metal theft plagues Manchester
Published:Thursday | May 12, 2011 | 12:00 AM
- One frustrated businessman ready to call it quits
Angelo Laurence, Gleaner Writer
MANDEVILLE, Manchester
THIEVES OPERATING in the scrap-metal sector are making life miserable for a number of business persons in the parish.
The thieves have been removing metal from bridges, graveyards, roadways and business places to sell to scrap-metal dealers for export. The increased incidents of metal theft have had a severe financial impact on a number of businesses, including cable television operators.
One cable operator in the parish, Mega Cable, has lost miles of its cable to thieves.
business loss
Another businessman, Jeffery Larmond of A-1 Equipment Rental, in Hatfield, told The Gleaner that his company has lost its metal props to thieves. He is now considering closing his business.
In the latest incident, on Wednesday, May 4, hundreds of his metal props, valued at over $1 million, were stolen. However, an observant citizen saw the items hidden in bushes and alerted him. Larmond said, thanks to the citizen, he was able to recover a significant portion of the stolen items.
He said the thieves have at one point stolen parts of his heavy-duty equipment. Larmond said, while the scrap-metal trade is a good way to earn foreign exchange for the country, it is also creating a headache for some business operators.
He feels that the scrap-metal buyers are not doing enough to ensure that the metals they are buying are not coming from illegitimate sources because of greed. He said one of his metal props weighs in the region of 50 pounds, noting that he could not imagine persons visiting a dealer with 200 of them, without the buyer being suspicious as to why anyone would be selling "perfectly good, expensive metal props" as scrap.
So far, a security guard has been arrested by the Mandeville police for the theft of several pieces of metal items from Larmond's business place.