Army HQ's telephone cables stolen, high security phones left dead

The civilian government experienced a communication gap with the military on Thursday, when over 1,000 phones in the Army headquarters in the national capital went dead, after thieves made off with copper wiring used for telephone lines. Over 1,000 phones including Remote Access Terminal phones that are used by army officials to communicate with ministers and government officials went dead, initially prompting fears of a security breach. However the incident was later verified to be the result of the theft of several tonnes of copper wires used in a junction box inside the guarded army headquarters, according to an Indian Express report. [caption id=“attachment_488315” align=“alignright” width=“380”]  Representational image. Reuters[/caption] “It is not possible to carry away such a massive quantity of heavy copper wire on foot. The thieves seem to have used a vehicle, probably a mini truck. It is suspected that they came in the guise of MTNL staff,”a police official who is investigating the theft was quoted as saying. Since the rise in prices of copper, theft of telephone wires for extraction or reselling of copper is hardly uncommon. In a recent incident, over 10,000 phones in a Mumbai suburb went dead due to thieves stealing over 100 metres worth of  wiring in order to resell it. And in Hyderabad, thieves made off with thousands of kilos of metals from industrial units. However, in this case the choice of target in this case is more bold than most cases reported earlier.