Villagers cut off by cable theft
Residents in two villages were left without phone or internet connections for days after thieves stole a section of underground cables.
Police are appealing for information after nearly 500 metres of copper cabling were stolen from Chilton Way, in Stowmarket, taking down phones and internet connections for about 1,000 customers in the Haughley and Old Newton area.
According to police, the thieves lifted a manhole cover in the road and stole the wires between 6pm last Wednesday and 6am last Thursday.
A spokesman for BT, which owns the cables, said it received 500 reports of faults from customers in the area, but said the maximum capacity for the stolen cable was 1,200 telephone lines, meaning it was likely many more people had been affected.
Engineers worked across the weekend to get the connections up and running again, with homes being re-connected in phases - but although many customers were back up over the weekend, one Haughley resident said she and other villagers were still offline on Monday morning.
Anyone who has any information about the incident should contact Pc Stefan Henriksen, of Stowmarket's Safer Neighbourhood Team, on 01473 613500, or call Crimestoppers, anonymously, on 0800 555 111.
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Weather for Bury St Edmunds
Thursday 09 February 2012
Today
Light snow
Temperature: -2 C to 1 C
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