Albouystown scrap metal dealer arrested for stolen Demerara River bridge cable

Last Updated on Thursday, 3 September 2026, 7:32 by Denis Chabrol

A scrap metal dealer has been arrested in connection with the theft of GY$1.6 million worth of heavy duty copper cable from the Bharrat Jagdeo Demerara River Bridge (BJDRB), after a labourer led investigators to the place where he sold the property he stole for GY$15,000, police said.

Head of the Guyana Police Force’s Criminal Investigations Department (CID), Deputy Police Commissioner Wendell Blanhum confirmed Thursday morning that the dealer was also in custody.

The arrest of the 52-year old dealer followed a cordon and search at 93 Sussex Street, Albouystown, Georgetown and the discovery of two pieces of cable at bond at Tuschen, East Bank Essequibo. Police moved in on the locations after a 39-year old labourer was arrested early Wednesday night on the BJDRB with a cutting implement and dressed in safety helmet and safety reflector vest. Authorities believed he was clad in that manner to deceive persons that he was working with the BJDRB.

Demerara Waves Online News was told that none of the stolen copper wire was found at the Albouystown location, but two pieces of copper wire similar to that which was stolen from the BJDRB were found at the bond which is located at the dealer’s home.

The dealer told police that last week he purchased 30 pounds of copper for GY$15,000 from the man, who was caught on the BJDRB, but he could not remember the description of the copper and could not say where the labourer got it from.

Mr Blanhum said the labourer confessed to stealing the 90 feet of four-conductor cable, which is rated at 350 thousand circular mils (kcmil) each and valued at GY$1.620 million, between midnight August 23, 2026, and 9 AM on September 1, 2026. “One person is in police custody and he has since admitted to stealing and selling the copper cable to purchase food to eat and buy drugs to smoke,” he told Demerara Waves Online News.

The bridge is equipped with LED lights attached to steel poles along its high span. The lights, which are powered by a generator beneath the bridge, are used to display various colours and were last operated on August 23, 2026, police said.

Bridge personnel told police that they only realised that the copper cable was stolen after one side of the bridge failed to light up on August 31 in the colours of the Trinidad and Tobago flag to mark that sister CARICOM member nation’s independence anniversary