Samuda scraps metal trade again
June 11, 2008
EIGHT MONTHS after first suspending scrap-metal exports due to theft, criminals have forced Minister of Industry, Commerce and Investment Karl Samuda to again put a hold on the sector.
Samuda told the House of Representatives yesterday that shipments of scrap metal would not resume until he was satisfied that metals being exported are not stolen.
"As a consequence of illegal activities that now pose a major threat to the economic development of our country, and the disruption of our essential services, I have today signed a ministerial order prohibiting the export of scrap metal until further notice," the minister said.
Water main in Clarendon
Samuda's move to shut down the sector comes days after thieves struck in Clarendon, removing sections of a water main in order to get metal to feed the lucrative industry. The minister said the National Water Commission had lost $3.4 million over the last four months to theft.
Samuda told Parliament that communications giant Cable and Wireless has lost more than $2 million in copper cables stolen to supply the trade. He said one trader recently had his licence revoked for being in possession of the cable, which he bought for $32,000. Images Design and Recycling in Linstead lost its licences and operator Wilber Castro Rosales was charged with receiving stolen property.
"It is no longer the common thief. It is a planned operation requiring heavy equipment," Samuda said in reference to the new face that scrap-metal theft has taken on....
Author: Daraine Luton and Rasbert Turner
Source: Jamaica Gleaner
