KINGSTON, Jamaica —
The Jamaica Public Service (JPS) is reporting that 711 persons have been arrested between January 1 and October 15 for the illegal abstraction of electricity.

JPS has been carrying out multiple operations across the island, with the support of the security forces, in addition to conducting meter audits and account investigations.

The parishes with the highest number of arrests for electricity theft are St James with 128 arrests, followed by St Elizabeth with 118 arrests and St Catherine with 112 arrests.

According to a company release on Saturday, a community radio station owner/operator in St James was arrested during the week when a meter bypass was found powering the small media entity. The radio station had been disconnected since February of this year for an outstanding balance, but was discovered this week to be receiving supply, via an illegal connection, the release said.

The release said that in Kingston, a cold storage operation was recently discovered to be stealing electricity to the tune of $500,000 per month.

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