GUANGZHOU: Local power supply and public security departments in the capital of South China's Guangdong Province are celebrating the success of a campaign to reduce the theft of wiring from electrical and telecommunications equipment.

Chen Lixiong, a media officer with the Guangzhou public security bureau, said that since the campaign's launch in March, more than 900 so-called "electrical thieves" had been arrested and more than 16 tons of electrical wire and cables had been confiscated.

Chen said that in the first quarter of the year, the city suffered economic losses of up to 38 million yuan ($5 million) due to the damage done to electrical and telecommunications equipment.

"The crime is most prevalent in the suburbs and old downtown areas. Therefore the campaign mainly targeted those places," Chen said.

Meanwhile, police said they will clamp down on copper and iron recycling stations that are known to have close links with thieves.

"We have kept a close eye on such places as most electrical equipment is purchased there. So far, more than 3,000 recycling stations have been closed down," Chen said.

He also called on the public to help police in the fight against such crime.

Sources with the Guangzhou power supply bureau said that a local draft law on preventing the trade in stolen wiring had been submitted to the local people's congress for approval, and should be put into effect later this year.

Xian Zhuonan, a deputy to the Guangdong provincial people's congress, attributed the rise in the number of thefts involving electrical equipment to the high copper price in recent years.

"They (thieves) are driven by the profits to be made by selling electrical wiring to recycling stations. So we should seek an efficient way to stop this dirty trade," Xian said in a recent interview with China Daily.

Xian has worked with other deputies to submit a proposal to the provincial people's congress early this year, calling for the establishment of a local regulation to ban the trade.

"Under the current law thieves are usually given too light a punishment," Xian said.

"Wiring is an important part of the national electrical and telecommunications equipment, so thieves should be subject to a heavy punishment."

(China Daily 06/07/2007 page4)