MUMBAI, Aug. 8 -- Around 40 different gangs across the city are involved in systematically digging out defunct telecom cables belonging to the Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited (MTNL) and selling the copper extracted from them at a premium, the Mumbai police crime branch has learnt after interrogating 10 people arrested in connection with the theft of MTNL cables in Borivali on June 30. Operational for at least six months, the gangs have divided the city into four zones, with separate gangs operating in south, central, eastern and north Mumbai, said Vishal Raje from the crime branch (unit 10) who led the team that nabbed four accused on June 30. Cumulatively, the gangs have stolen cables worth Rs.1,000 crore, while cables worth another Rs.5,000 crore are still buried underneath, sources in the crime branch told Hindustan Times. Among the 10 arrested accused in the June 30 case was Vinod Yadav, 54 - a clerk-cum-supervisor at MTNL's Kandivali office who investigators suspect had been "guiding" the gangs, said sub-inspector Sandesh Ingale, the investigating officer in the case. Another accused in the case described MTNL's underground cable network as a "goldmine", as copper extracted from the cables sells at Rs.1,300 per kilo, said a crime branch officer, requesting anonymity. MTNL, once the default telecom service provider in Mumbai, has an expansive network of underground telecom cables criss-crossing the city. With mobile phones gradually replacing landlines and private players dominating the sector, most of the underground copper cables have been rendered useless, sources in MTNL told HT. Gangs involved in cable theft realised that the underground cables were a "goldmine" when several MTNL cables were broken during digging for the Ghatkopar-Versova Metro line, said Raje. Over the past few months, the police have registered several first information reports (FIRs) and arrested suspects in connection with the alleged theft of MTNL copper cables. But since the accused in such cases are usually booked only for theft, they get bail easily Sources in the crime branch said the operations run by the gangs are very well-planned. MTNL employees guide the gangs regarding the precise spots where dead cables are lying. The gangs then employ labourers who wear reflective vests to make it look like they are MTNL employees. They place "work-in- progress" boards bearing the MTNL logo and deploy JCBs to dig the roads, pull out the underground cables, and transport them to a safe location, the sources said. "The high price that copper fetches is the reason these gangs can afford heavy machinery like JCBs to dig out the underground cables and transport them in trucks and tempos," said Navanath Dhavale, Deputy Commissioner of Police, Crime Branch (Detection I). "Apart from MTNL employees, some gangs also pay bribes to local police and local leaders, to ensure they can carry out the thefts smoothly, without getting caught," a crime branch officer said. In case those pulling out the cables are nabbed by the police, bribes ensure that masterminds are never touched, the officer noted. According to investigators, the stolen cables are taken to Turbhe MIDC or forested areas in Borviali, where the copper and aluminium are separated from the plastic and sold. HT contacted Ravi A Robert Jerard, the chairman and managing director of MTNL for comments on the issue, but did not receive any response....