A significant section of the southern Lebanese town of Jiyeh was disconnected from the electrical grid when unidentified individuals tried to steal some of its power lines.
Power lines on the Sada Pack road in the northern part of Jiyeh were cut down on Wednesday afternoon by several suspects who were planning on stealing them, according to the National News Agency.
The group laid the cables down on the street in order to transport them out of the area, but they ended up leaving them and running away when a local arrived at the scene.
The incident caused a large part of the town to lose its electricity.
Security forces later arrived at the scene and opened an investigation into the incident.
Similar incidents involving theft or attempted theft of private and public property have become more frequent since the economic crisis started in Lebanon.
In addition to power lines, manhole covers, train tracks, and cemetery doors have been targeted by people who steal and then sell them on the black market for profit.
In the past week, 88 people involved in thefts were arrested across Lebanon, according to the Internal Security Forces (ISF).
8 others were arrested for robberies, the total number of arrests for the week being 322.
