Members of a squad of Bedouin thieves were arrested last night on suspicion of stealing IEC transformers worth about NIS 5 million in recent months, causing extensive power outages to residents and farms.
The central unit of the Lachish region has been conducting a covert investigation for several weeks, in cooperation with the IEC security unit, against the cell that stole the IEC’s 56 transformers in the southern region in recent months. The estimated damage is about NIS 5 million when, in addition to the theft, the cell caused power outages to residents and agricultural areas, and further damage to the electricity grid supply.
The Lachish Sq. .
During the operation, two members of the cell were arrested on the hot after stealing two transformers from a power pole, dismantling the copper coils from them and trying to escape with the loot in a designated SUV with which they arrived. After a chase mounted on foot in the area by police forces, they were apprehended and arrested.
The investigation raises the suspicion that the transformers were stolen for the purpose of using iron or alternatively selling the transformers or parts of them for tens of thousands of shekels.
The suspects, residents of the Bedouin diaspora in the south, in their 20s and 30s, were taken for questioning at the Lachish Hospital and were brought before the Magistrate’s Court this evening with a request to extend their detention.