ONE day after Port of Spain Mayor Joel Martinez called on the public to report anyone stealing metal drain covers, the city police raided a scrapyard and recovered several covers believed to be stolen.
According to Supt Glen Charles, officers of the Port of Spain City Police Task Force went to #25, George Street on Saturday with a search warrant for arms and ammunition. During the search, the officers found a number of manhole covers believed stolen and arrested a 57-year-old man.
The officers also found a bundle of copper wire believed to be from stolen TSTT cable lines that were stripped.
[caption id="attachment_893841" align="alignnone" width="1024"] An exposed drain at the corner of Henry Street and Independence Square - ROGER JACOB[/caption]
When Sunday Newsday visited the scene, the officers were still searching the compound and found several crocus bags filled with copper wire.
On Friday, Martinez said he noticed the missing metal grills and labelled it “organized theft” within the last week or two. He called on Charles to investigate the theft.
Charles told Sunday Newsday the raid was a major operation and the thefts caused financial strain on state agencies.
“This exercise here is sending a message to all scrap iron dealers that the police are here and we will enforce the law.”
Newsday asked if the thefts of metal covers/grills would push the corporation to use concrete covers.
He replied, “We use an open grill where water can go into the main drain, so if you put concrete then it will impede it.
[caption id="attachment_893842" align="alignnone" width="930"] Port of Spain mayor
Joel Martinez -[/caption]
“Further, the concrete tends to mash up a lot faster than the metal. Also the metal is a lot stronger, even as you will remember that a lot of these are on the road and they are just over the drain. The other round metal covers have WASA valves underneath and protect the valves and allow access to the underground drainage.”
Asked if the fines for such thefts should be increased so as to deter thieves, Martinez vowed to look into this question.
“We do have cameras in the city and I’d want the police to look into the areas where we have cameras to determine if they are able to see any maliciousness taking place regarding the removal of the grill gates and the metal covers.”
Martinez said, “I’d like to appeal to the individuals who maliciously remove the city infrastructure that covers the underground drains which assist us in cleaning these drain. “When you remove those covers what you are doing is actually creating a hole in the middle of the road of which if a vehicle goes down in it, can pose serious damage to that vehicle and can maybe cause someone to have swing away from it which could cause serious injury of death.”
He said replacing the covers was costly at a time of limited funds.
[caption id="attachment_893839" align="alignnone" width="1024"] A driver avoids a wooden barrier
