Nigerian police have arrested two members of a criminal gang which has been accused of stealing fuel from rural GSM base stations. In areas where electricity is not available, or more usually - is available but very unreliable - many base stations rely on diesel generators to maintain reliable mobile phone coverage.
The two, Danladi Mohammed and Musa Gyang were arrested following a tip off, local police told The Sun newspaper. They were caught with 29 jerry cans of 25 litres with 16 of the jerry cans already loaded with diesels which they allegedly siphoned from the tanks supplying the generator which powered the MTN mast located at the heart of a small settlement near Lokoja, known as Zango Daji.
Two other members of the criminal gang have escaped.
The police paraded the arrested men in public and blamed their activities for the regular failures of GSM coverage in the area and called on MTN, the operator affected to press criminal charges against the men.
Posted to the site on 4th April 2008
Posted to: www.cellular-news.com/story/30324.php