A 23-year-old stole copper wires from the AC units of over 30 houses in Santacruz to feed his drugs habit, but his luck ran out when he targetted a CID officers’ colony. The Santacruz police arrested him on Saturday for stealing copper wires from more than 30 residences. They said the accused would climb buildings and cut the output wires from split ACs and sell them to raddi shops.

The accused was identified as Marshall Michael Jacob, a resident of Santacruz. He is a drug addict and also has a POSCO case against him. The police said the accused would enter the societies at night and after stealing the wires, sell them for Rs 200-Rs 300. They said he would then purchase drugs. According to the police, the rate of copper is Rs 500-Rs 700 per kg. The complainant, Amar Pal, said he got another wire installed in his AC at a cost of Rs 10,000.