Police are hunting heartless thieves who “put lives at risk” by stealing thousands of pounds worth of valuable copper cable from an Aberdeen block of flats.
The incident took place on Monday evening at Hazlehead’s Wallace House – which had previously been targeted in April this year.
Roof repairs are being carried out by the council on the four tower blocks in the area and scaffolding has been erected around them.
As well as cutting cables around the block the culprit or culprits also snipped the cable to the scaffolder’s lift outside the building.
Cables were discovered hidden near to the building and council chiefs reported the vandalism to police.
But last night officers said more cabling was still missing.
Ward councillor Jennifer Stewart said the thieves were causing “real worry” in the community and called for warden patrols to be stepped up and CCTV installed.
She said: “The council has phoned the police and they have come to take away the cables for tests.
“Clearly this is a planned crime, I think this is a real worry to people living in Hazlehead.
“This is no small job for the criminals, I will be asking the council to see about settling up new CCTV and perhaps getting more regular warden patrols.
“This could have caused a really serious accident, lives could be put at risk.”
A police spokeswoman said the theft had been reported to the force on Tuesday and had been valued at a “low four figure sum”.
She added that some cabling was still missing after the heist and that the force was seeking any witnesses to call them on 101.
She said: “The incident is understood to have happened between 5pm on Monday and 7am on Tuesday.
“Inquiries are ongoing.”
An Aberdeen City Council spokeswoman said: “An incident took place on site at Wallace House on Monday 22 August where cable wiring supplying the cradle for a workman’s lift was cut and removed from the site.
“The power cables for the cradles have been reordered and will be reinstated by a specialist electrical contractor as soon as possible.
“Aberdeen City Council was made aware of the incident and Police Scotland were notified, we are helping them with their inquiry.”
