Mumbai: Drug addict held for stealing copper wires from AC units

The accused, Marshall Jacob

A 23-year-old stole copper wires from the AC units of over 30 houses in Santacruz to feed his drugs habit, but his luck ran out when he targetted a CID officers' colony. The Santacruz police arrested him on Saturday for stealing copper wires from more than 30 residences. They said the accused would climb buildings and cut the output wires from split ACs and sell them to raddi shops.

The accused was identified as Marshall Michael Jacob, a resident of Santacruz. He is a drug addict and also has a POSCO case against him. The police said the accused would enter the societies at night and after stealing the wires, sell them for Rs 200-Rs 300. They said he would then purchase drugs. According to the police, the rate of copper is Rs 500-Rs 700 per kg. The complainant, Amar Pal, said he got another wire installed in his AC at a cost of Rs 10,000.

Speaking to mid-day, Sub-Inspector Yogesh Pawar of Santacruz police station said, "Last week we received a complaint from Amar Pal of Samadhan CID (Crime Investigation Department) officers' colony at Santacruz West. He told us that his AC unit's copper wire, which is quite costly, was stolen. We checked CCTV footage of the building and found that the accused had stolen the AC wires of six flats. Four of these flats are unoccupied. We also found that the accused had done the same in more than 30 flats in the area. With the help of the CCTV footage we identified the accused and arrested him from his residence. He is in police custody."