Volcano monitoring devices stolen, tampered with

An unidentified person or persons stole and damaged antennas and other Anatahan monitoring devices at the old Emergency Management Office Building on Capital Hill, the Department of Public Safety said yesterday.

DPS spokesperson Lei Ogumoro said that, on Tuesday at 12:29pm, police received a report about a criminal mischief incident at the old EMO-Division of Land Registration and Survey Building.

Preliminary investigation showed that an antenna transmitter, receiver antenna, and the transmitter to the EMO base had been tampered with.

All these communication equipment are located at the top of the old EMO Building.

Ogumoro said that during further investigation, police found that a stainless steel box had been stolen.

The DPS spokesperson said that, according to an EMO staff, the antennas and the steel box are used to monitor the active Anatahan Volcano.

Ogumoro said the building was last secured on March 5.

EMO acting director Mark Pangelinan told Saipan Tribune yesterday that the stainless steel box and antennas are very expensive.

“The stainless steel box, that’s where we transmit and receive the data,” Pangelinan said.

He said unidentified person or persons stole some parts and equipment.

“Some antennas were stolen, some were left but they are crooked, bended. Somebody decided to play kung fu,” the director said.

He said that EMO’s seismic technicians are currently fixing the monitoring equipment with the help of the Alaska Volcano Observatory.

Pangelinan said they are now relocating those antennas and transmitters to the current EMO building on Capital Hill.

EMO installed those equipment on the rooftop of the old EMO building because the place has a clear site of Anatahan.

He said the Alaska Volcano Observatory is assisting EMO through e-mails and telephone to repair the communication devices.

“We want to make sure that technically we’re doing it right,” Pangelinan said.

He warned that the person or persons who did it have committed a federal offense.

“Please think about it and make sure that they don’t do it again because those are federal funds,” he said.

He said the Federal Bureau of Investigation may likely coordinate with DPS because those devices were bought using federal money.

This was the first time that the monitoring equipment were stolen and tampered with.

A couple of years ago, emergency kits and tools were stolen from the storage room at the same building. No one was arrested in that burglary.