On Monday, the management and staff of Dangriga Cable Vision Limited sent out a press release with this information:
“Dangriga Cable Vision is hereby informing the public that we are experiencing several cases of sabotage. The most recent case was on April 17, 2010, on the corner of Pen Road and Sainsbury Street in the Benguche area in Dangriga Town. The BEL meter was broken, causing interruption in the cable service in the said area. We want to encourage the public to please inform our office whenever anyone witnesses any such act.
“Dangriga Cable Vision will ensure all customers that we will continue to provide the best of service to you all.”
Amandala spoke with Frank Arzu, Jr., via phone; Arzu is the Director of Operations at Dangriga Cable Vision. He informed us that these alleged acts of vandalism and sabotage have been taking place since as far back as 2005. There have been many areas affected including Hopkins; the Stann Creek River Valley; Alta Vista Village, Stann Creek; the Hopkins Junction; Benguche, Dangriga Town; the outskirts of Dangriga Town, and Hope Creek Village, which is eight miles outside of Dangriga Town.
Arzu said that the vandalism to the wiring and equipment ranged from nails being driven into Cable Vision wires, drilling of the wires, cutting of the wires, bending of the wires to break the internal parts, using pliers to partially cut through the wires, damaging equipment to interrupt signal, and even the cutting of the wires all the way through, then taping the ends together to mask the damage from employees, thus ensuring the problem is hard to spot.
Arzu said that on Easter Monday of this year, someone went as far as to climb up a lamp post, take a hammer (or some similar type of object) and break the wire that feeds their service tap up in Hope Creek Village.
According to the press release, the most recent sabotage attempt was this Saturday with the BEL meter being broken.
Arzu said that these sabotage attempts are an inconvenience to the employees, the company and to the customers, who demand and deserve the best service from Dangriga Cable Vision. He finished off by saying that these damages seem deliberate because there are three or four company wires that run alongside Dangriga Cable Vision’s wires, and somehow, it is always their wires that get damaged.