In a bizarre incident, a group of thieves took away a mobile tower in Patna’s Sabzi Bagh locality.
In a continuing series of outrageously bizarre thefts in Bihar, a 29-feet-tall mobile tower has now been reported stolen by thieves allegedly posing as telecom workers in Patna .
Installed over a house in Sabzi Bagh in 2006 by now-defunct mobile service provider AIRCEL, it was sold to GTL Limited a company that manages telecom towers.
Company officials discovered the structure was missing during a recent inspection of mobile towers after previously finding it intact in August 2022.
Police, who filed an FIR against the unidentified suspects based on area manager Mohammad Shahnawaz Anwar’s complaint, said the homeowner had requested removal of the tower after non-payment of rent.
“Initially, the GTL company removed part of the equipment. After that, another team came and removed all the equipment,” explained Sabih-Ul-Haq, SHO of Pirbahore police station.
“When the company officials enquired about the incident, the house owner informed that some persons who claimed to be employees of GTL company came here four months ago and removed the tower,” said the officer.
“They [the thieves] gave the excuse that the tower had a massive technical glitch and would be replaced by a new mobile tower. Then, they loaded the equipment on a truck and took off.”
•Bihar thieves’ bizarre steals•
The state of Bihar is no stranger to grand thefts.
In April 2022, thieves pretending to be Irrigation Department officials stole an entire 60-foot bridge in broad daylight. Later last year, a group of unidentified people stole a train engine piece by piece after digging a tunnel to a railway yard in Begusarai district.
In December, thieves in Patna pilfered oil from a moving tanker train headed towards an HPCL oil depot
