Two held for stolen Works Ministry steel

TWO men were arrested on Tuesday after police found stolen steel belonging to the Ministry of Works and Transport at a scrapyard in Cunupia.

In a media release, police said the men, a 36-year-old, of Sangre Grande and the owner of the scrapyard, a 33-year-old Chaguanas man, were arrested after the stolen steel was found at the compound at the corner of Ramlal Trace Extension and the Uriah Butler Highway.

Police said an employee at the ministry discovered the steel was missing on Tuesday afternoon. He told police he last saw the items – nine iron beams, 60 electrical steel pipes, two excavator buckets, an 18-inch one-way valve pipe and six pieces of overhanging beams – at the ministry’s Caroni compound at about 3 pm last Friday.

The theft was reported to the Caroni Police Station and based on information, police went to the scrapyard where they found the stolen materials.

On Wednesday, Transport Commissioner Clive Clarke said the steel, which had been fabricated to construct an inspection bay at Wrightson Road, in Port of Spain, was stolen on Saturday. It was stored at the mechanical service building at the ministry’s Caroni compound.