Five men charged with stealing cables in separate incidents faced two magistrates on Wednesday.
Paul Atwell, 47, of La Brea, pleaded guilty before Siparia magistrate Nizam Khan, who fined him $7,000.
Cpl Corey Aguilleira of the Santa Flora police station charged Atwell after catching him with $1 million worth of Telecommunications Services of TT (TSTT) cables in his van on Tuesday morning.
A report said Aguilleira, PC Joseph, of Erin police station, and others were on patrol around 3 am when they saw a white van parked in a secluded area along SS Erin Road. When they approached, the occupants ran off, but they caught the driver.
The magistrate ordered Atwell to pay the fine within three months or serve five months' imprisonment with hard labour.
Couva police arrested four men on Tuesday morning in Balmain Village in an unrelated but similar case.
Mukesh Bahadur, Shaquille Davis, Kern Scott and Jamiel Rustan, all from Carapichaima, pleaded guilty on Wednesday before a Couva magistrate.
Bahadur, Davis and Rustan were each fined $3,000, which they must pay within two months or serve six months' imprisonment with hard labour.
The magistrate placed Scott, 18, on a $2,000 bond to keep the peace and be of good behaviour for the next three years.
PC Ayinde Cummings laid the charge.
Cummings and other officers were on mobile patrol at around 9.50 am on Tuesday when they saw the four in a car ahead of the police van. They stopped and searched the car and found two bags of cables in the trunk.
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