Northern Ireland

Thieves target Craigavon hospital site for second time in two days

Police are investigating a second theft-related incident at the Craigavon Area Hospital site within two days
Police are investigating a second theft-related incident at the Craigavon Area Hospital site within two days Police are investigating a second theft-related incident at the Craigavon Area Hospital site within two days

POLICE have appealed for information after a second theft-related incident took place at Craigavon Area Hospital.

Just a day after thieves stole the wheels from a nurse's car parked at the site while she was working a shift on Sunday, police have now appealed for information after attempts were made to steal two reels of cable, worth £5,000.

Posting on the PSNi Craigavon Facebook page, police said: "At some point between 4.30pm (Monday) and 7.45am (Tuesday), thieves attempted to take two reels of cable from the building site at the hospital.

"Each reel is over a ton in weight and is 1.5 meter diameter. This would have taken either The Hulk, or some serious lifting equipment.

"Thankfully, our guys attended and having searched the area found the cable (worth around £5,000) which was stashed nearby. This was almost certainly left to be picked up on a second run".

Police added: "It's horrendous for an NHS site to be targeted. Any building work is only to improve public service and this is therefore not just an attack on builders and contractors, but on all of us.

"If you saw anything untoward around the hospital overnight, please get in touch. If you see anyone snooping about and you're concerned about what they're up to, call us immediately. On this occasion they left empty handed and we were able to recover what they were targetting. Next time we may not be so lucky."

Following the theft of wheels from the nurse's car parked at a hospital car park on Sunday, the Southern Health trust said it is "reviewing security at the site.