Phone technician arrested for stealing booster station batteries

GUARDIA CIVIL from Huelva have arrested two people charged with stealing equipment from mobile phone booster stations in Huelva, Sevilla, Malaga and Badajoz. Since 2010, several power batteries used at the stations had been stolen, causing obvious problems for locals and economic losses to phone company Movistar, as the value of the objects amounted to around €300,000.

The investigation revealed that this was only occurring in western Andalucia, and that the equipment which was being stolen would be hard to sell on the black market as it has limited uses. This led them to believe that the thieves had the technical knowledge to disconnect the batteries, which if done incorrectly, could lead to a powerful electric shock.

This led them to one of the detainees, a 31-year-old man who had worked in maintenance of booster stations for three companies and had a criminal record for similar thefts.

He was caught entering a scrap metal yard after stealing a battery in Ronda. The owner, aged 49, was also arrested for receiving stolen goods.