BT Offers Reward to Catch Scottish Subsea Fibre Optic Cable Thieves

BTOpenreach are offering a reward of up to £1000 for information that leads to a conviction of those responsible for cutting a vital 1000 metre long fibre optic cable (probably because they thought it was made of more valuable copper) that runs across Loch Carron in Scotland’s (UK) rural Highlands region.

The disruption, which took place during low tide on Thursday last week, resulted in thousands of local homes and businesses across several communities being left without vital broadband and phone services for between several hours and several days.

Robert Morrison, BTs Local Senior Operations Manager, said (PA):

“Our engineers had to battle against time and tide but they worked their socks off to restore service to 7,000 internet and telephone customers across the north-west Highlands and Islands.

I really can’t praise their efforts highly enough as the sea was virtually lapping at their feet when they finished connecting the links in the loch. I’d also like to thank the local coastguard for providing us with safety support.”

The cable itself was cut from the shoreline that is just adjacent to Stromeferry (Ross-shire) and as a result would have been visible to commuters travelling on the local railway line (specifically the train that left Kyle of Lochalsh at 12:03pm for Inverness).

The local Kyle Police, which have boosted their patrols in the area, are trying to trace a dark coloured van. Anybody who saw something should contact the Police Station on 01599 534222 or call Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.