Shanghai toget tough on cable theft

SHANGHAI: The soaring price of metals, including iron and copper, has made stealing electric cables from power lines, telecommunications and broadcasting facilities a profitable business.

But Shanghai's public security authorities vowed yesterday to boost efforts to crack down on the crime.

Last year, the number of cases involving damage to electrical cables was up 17 percent on 2006, the security bureau said. In the first half of the year, police concluded investigations of 1,000 cases, but declined to give a figure for the whole year.