Day: April 22, 2012

Dhiraagu reveals cable repair vessel to arrive April 25, discusses compensation

Dhiraagu has said it does not wish to speculate on a date for the completion of repairs to a damaged section of submarine cable that has severely impacted its internet services over the last week.

The local telecoms group said that until repair work commences on April 25, the company would not be able address the scale and cause of the damage to a section of cable based 26 kilometres from the Sri Lankan coast.  However, a spokesperson stressed to Minivan News that the cause of damage to the cable was being seen as an “accident” at present.

Company Chief Executive Ismail Rasheed today told local media that Dhiraagu would be providing compensation for customers affected by the disruption to its internet services as it works to increase capacity.

Dhiraagu has been looking for so called “diversity routes” since the damage occurred to the cable last Wednesday (April 18), forcing it to provide a “degraded” service to its internet customers,  whilst prioritising e-mail and browsing services.

Dhiraagu added that as part of a national agreement, telecoms rival Wataniya would be assisting in providing data capacity from its own unaffected submarine cable.  The company has said that is is also working to strengthen its satellite operations for international phone services.

Asean Explorer

Company spokesperson Imjad Jaleel has told Minivan News that the Asean Explorer vessel equipped to enact repairs on submarine cables was still expected to leave India on Tuesday before arriving in Sri Lanka the next day.

According to the company, the damage has been located to a section of cable situated 40 metres below the Sri Lankan waters. The cable itself connects Sri Lanka directly to the island of Huhlumale’. From Hulhumale’, this signal is then carried across the country’s scattered atolls.

Spokesperson Imjad stressed that the company would not yet be speculating on a date for full services to resume until it could offer more detailed information to its customers.

The damage sustained to its cable was still being considered an “accident”, possibly resulting from an errant anchor, he added.

The company claimed that preliminary testing had shown that the damage was not believed to have resulted from earth quakes or other geological occurrences, leaving anchoring ships as the most probable cause.

According to Imjad, the cable itself is situated in one of two areas in Sri Lankan waters specifically set aside for the country to house its underwater communications cables. In these areas, the anchoring of ships is not permitted, he added.

“We believe that there could have been an accident with an anchor perhaps accidentally being dropped in these waters, but we will only be able to asses fully on April 25,” Imjad claimed.

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Police arrest two thieves accused of ‘hole-in-roof’ robberies

Police have arrested two people accused of a series of robberies in which holes were cut in the roofs of the target premises, mostly shops in Male’.

In a statement, Police Inspector Mohamed Dhaud said that from April 7-15 police have received reports that shops were being robbed at night, with the burglars entering through holes cut in the ceilings.

Inspector Dhaud said each night two or three shops were robbed using the same method, noticeably shops located near the local market area and shops on Chandanee Magu, a main road in Male’.

According to Dhaud, investigations showed that it was the same persons involved in all the robberies, leading police to launch a special operation to catch the thieves.

Police met with people around the area and one of them told patrolling officers that he had received a text message from a security alarm device installed inside a shop in Chandanee Magu called ‘Hanamaruko’.

Police immediately set off to Hanamaruko shop and found the two persons inside, catching them red-handed.

Two of them tried to escape when they saw police officers, but one of them was arrested inside the shop while the other person ran up to the Islamic Centre to escape, Inspector Dhaud said.

Police identified the two persons as Adam Shareef, of Irama on the island of Mathiveri in Alifu Alifu Atoll, and Mohamed Abubakuru, of Gulalamaa on the island of Miladhoo in Noonu Atoll.

Adam Shareef had a record number of robberies on his criminal record, police said, and had been released under the Second Chance Program given to inmates by the former government. Mohamed Abubakuru had no history of being involved in any criminal activity.

Dhaud said the pair’s fingerprints matched those obtained from other shops that were robbed in a similar manner.

Police furthermore said they had recovered Rf498,000 (US$33,200) worth of stolen items and money, and Rf 37,000 (US$2466) and Rf50,000 (US$3333) worth of stolen jewelry.

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