The Tribune

By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

Caribbean Bottling Company is among the latest businesses to fall victim to increasing copper theft, its president describing the situation as a “sign of the times”.

Walter Wells confirmed to Tribune Business that the Coca-Cola bottler suffered a loss of “very valuable” copper wire from its former Thompson Boulevard headquarters when thieves hit it on two consecutive weekends.

“There was some copper wire stolen. It was broken into twice,” he said. “They took a bit of it the first weekend, and last weekend [February 1].

“It was just copper wire for our generator on Thompson Boulevard. What they didn’t get the first time, they came back and took.”

Caribbean Bottling Company has since moved its Nassau headquarters to its purpose built plant on Sir Milo Butler Highway, and Mr Wells said the theft would not impact operations as the affected generator was not currently needed.

“We lost a lot of copper wire, which is very valuable,” he told Tribune Business. “It is a loss, but I have not attached a value to it as it is not pressing, since it does not inconvenience operations.

“It’s a sign of the times in which we live.”