Three Men Arrested in N.Ireland for Theft of Openreach’s Broadband Cables

The Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI), which have been investigating multiple thefts of copper broadband and phone cables from Openreach (BT) – said to be worth “six figures“, have just arrested three men (aged 36, 38 and 60) on suspicion of related theft and criminal damage.

Over the past few weeks’ there have been a number of cable thefts on Openreach’s network from locations in Armagh and Dungannon, which are known to have disrupted the operator’s internet and phone services around those areas. Sadly, the perpetrators of such crimes never have any regard for the harm they cause to locals, some of which are dependent upon the related services.

The good news is that, following today’s earlier report of similar but unrelated arrests taking place in England this week (here), the PSNI yesterday carried out a proactive search and arrest operation in relation to the aforementioned thefts in Armagh and Dungannon.

A total of five separate properties were searched, with the assistance of Tactical Support Group (TSG) officers, which resulted in three men aged 36, 38 and 60 being arrested on suspicion of theft and criminal damage.

Detective Inspector Handley, who led the operation, said:

“The thefts targeted 20 locations between December 2022 and August 2024 and are being treated as an attack on Northern Ireland’s national infrastructure by what we believe to be an organised criminal group.

We’ve been working closely with the Openreach Security Team and this has culminated in this morning’s operation. The cost of the cable stolen from Openreach over the past 18 months and the damage caused in its removal, runs into six figures, and has disrupted the telephone and internet services of several thousand households, mainly in rural areas.”

Garret Kavanagh, Director of Openreach in NI, said:

“We’re really disappointed that rural residents have borne the brunt of criminal behaviour and theft from our network. These attacks cause significant damage and unacceptable disruption to the lives of local people and put vulnerable people at risk. We continue to work closely with the PSNI and thank them for their efforts in securing this mornings arrests.”

Crimes like this have become increasingly common in recent years, driven in part by the high price of copper and the rising cost of living that has pushed more people into poverty. But over the past couple of years’ we have seen a rise in the number of UK-wide arrests (example), often followed by some convictions, which is starting to dent the activity.

Openreach has also reported a 30% reduction in cable theft over the past year, not least after introducing a new forensic liquid marker (SelectaDNA) to help track and protect their network (here). But that takes time to deploy and can’t be added to cables that are already in the ground.

The ongoing deployment of full fibre (FTTP) lines should, eventually, help to reduce such thefts as fibre has no value to thieves. But this won’t completely stop the problem from occurring because fibre and copper cables often share some of the same ducts, and thieves sometimes confuse the two. BT and Openreach will eventually remove their copper cables too, but that’s a much longer process.

Openreach also has a partnership with Crimestoppers, which sometimes offers rewards for information given anonymously to the charity about cable thefts, if it leads to the arrest and conviction of those responsible – you can contact them 100% anonymously on 0800 555 111 or use their anonymous online form. You can also contact Openreach’s security team direct or report via the local police (101), or if you see a crime in progress, then call the police on 999.