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Three men have been arrested and charged with sabotage after stealing dielectric oil from the transformers of the Uruguay Agro-Industrial Complex (CAI) substation in the municipality of Jatibonico, Sancti Spíritus province, in the early hours of April 2nd.
According to information published by the official media Cubadebate, the operation took place at 2:40 in the morning, while rural communities in the same municipality were still suffering the consequences of a blackout caused by a similar theft at the Pelú substation, which had left approximately 2,200 customers without electricity for over 24 hours.
According to Lieutenant Andy Carreño Rush, a criminal instructor with State Security, the action was the result of a covert operational effort by the Technical Investigations Department (DTI) and the Revolutionary National Police.
"It was revealed that three individuals were going to steal dielectric oil from a transformer belonging to CAI Uruguay. The officers arrived at the scene and caught the alleged perpetrators red-handed in this act."
The incident recalls the theft of 600 liters in the tunero municipality of Amancio Rodríguez on April 19, which left thousands of people without electricity under similar circumstances.
Additionally, this type of theft has had fatal consequences in other provinces. For example, in Santiago de Cuba a man died and another was seriously burned during a similar incident.
Authorities have taken a harder stance on these crimes, and 100% of those tried for electrical sabotage have received sentences of up to ten years in prison.
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