Roadside cable thief snared, causing parts of Nonthaburi highway to plunge into darkness
An engineer alerted the local police to apprehend a man who was cutting power cables in the middle of a Nonthaburi highway, casting parts of it into darkness over a distance of more than 2 kilometres. At around 3.45pm yesterday, the young man, identified as 30 year old Chotipong, was caught red-handed along with the snipped aluminium power cables stretching 50 metres, cable-cutting equipment, and the vehicle he used in the operation.
Arthaporn Prakot, an engineer who works for Nonthaburi’s highway department, stated that frequent power outages had been occurring on several roads. Upon investigation, it was found that the theft and sale of power cables were causing these issues, creating inconvenience and raising the chances of accidents. The light outage spanned approximately 2 kilometres along the highway due to this incident.
The thief managed to avoid being electrocuted during the act because the lighting system is automated centithief – meaning power is dispersed along the cables as the system determines it is growing dark. During midday, electricity is not released, which is when Chotipong chose to cut the cables, reported KhaoSod.
The Royal Thai Highway Department calculated that for the year 2023, public property theft including power cables, electricity transformers, and other traffic signal equipment, amounted to a staggering loss of more than 30 million baht (US$852,043).
Following his capture, Chotipong was taken for interrogation and legal action. During his detention, Chotipong’s wife visited him and revealed that her husband had borrowed a vehicle from her older brother to collect scrap for sale because they had run out of cooking gas at home.
She expressed surprise at the fact that her husband had ended up being arrested for stealing cables. She also disclosed that her husband had been suffering from depression but could not seek medical help due to financial difficulties. If it weren’t for the gas shortage, her husband wouldn’t have gone out to collect scrap and wouldn’t have ended up in this predicament.
Chotipong’s wife appeared forlorn, saying she did not have the means to bail her husband or hire an attorney. She expressed concern over their young son, who had asked to visit his father upon hearing the news of his arrest.
