Underground Crooks

Sun Herald

Sunday April 15, 2001

By HEATH GILMORE, Urban Affairs Reporter

THIEVES cut phone lines to a suburban shopping centre before raiding stores with stolen credit cards.

Owners of businesses at Telopea Shopping Centre in Sydney's west have held a crisis meeting with Telstra and Parramatta Council after robberies over the past two months.

Shopkeepers believe tens of thousands of dollars in money and goods may have been stolen from the centre, which includes a Bi-Lo supermarket, Liquorland, licensed post office, hairdresser and 10 other stores.

Telopea Post Office licensee Michael Maughan, who is Dundas Valley Chamber of Commerce vice-president, wants security locks installed on the maintenance pits to prevent thieves cutting the underground phone cables.

The thieves first sabotaged the telecommunication network in late February. They entered the pits via street-level manholes and severed all the lines leading to shopping centre businesses. With all online transaction systems down, shopkeepers processed transactions manually and the thieves used stolen credit cards to buy goods and withdraw cash. Bills are still coming in from the spree.

The thieves used the same system twice last month, using different maintenance pits, but with less success.

Mr Maughan said he understood the supermarket and Liquorland had been hit hard.

``On the first morning that the telephone lines were out it looked like Christmas Day with these people wheeling out full shopping trolleys and taking cash out," he said.

``Since then the supermarket is only allowing people to take out small amounts of cash if the system crashes.

``We have been told that the first occasion was definitely the work of professionals. They used cutting tools and knew which cables to cut."

Hairdresser Susan Salt said the cost in lost business was thousands of dollars as it took 24 hours to repair the phone network.

Ms Salt said: ``People like me who rely on phone bookings are lost without the phone. The local pizzeria which makes home deliveries will never recover its money. It's awful."

Parramatta councillor David Borger said urgent action had to be taken to protect the livelihood of the businesses.

He said the council agreed to re-pave the surrounding area, which would allow Telstra to install new maintenance pits with lockable lids.

Mr Borger said: ``At first Telstra said `If we have to install them at Telopea, then we'll have to have them everywhere'. A verbal agreement was reached if council agreed to share the costs.

``But we haven't received anything in writing. Telstra has a duty of care to these customers. We have to ensure this doesn't happen again."

A Telstra spokesperson said the company could not comment on the Telopea case for security reasons.

© 2001 Sun Herald

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