Thief sells materials from Istanbul’s 3rd bridge construction worth thousands for 600 liras

ISTANBUL

DHA Photo

Construction materials worth 300,000 Turkish Liras were stolen from the construction site of the third bridge over Istanbul’s Bosphorus by a thief, who did not know the real worth of the items and sold them for 600 liras to a junk dealer.

The thief, identified by the initials R.K., broke into the construction site of the controversial third bridge in the Çekmeköy district on Istanbul’s Asian side on Oct. 2, and stole materials, including 24 laser readers belonging to an asphalt pouring machine, six computers and 18 wires, which were all together worth a total of 300,000 liras. 

Not knowing what the materials he stole were used for or their actual worth, the thief sold the items to a junk dealer for a total of 600 liras. 

Police investigating the incident caught the thief and learned he had sold them to a junk dealer, identified only by his initials A.T.

Police raided A.T.’s house and recovered the stolen materials, which were taken back to the construction company’s site. 

After his interrogation at the police department and the prosecutor’s office, the thief was arrested by a court. 

The construction of the third bridge, which is nearing its end, has caused controversy across the country because of the land on which the arterial roads connecting to the bridge will be built on. 

The main access roads on both sides of the bridge have been planned to pass through Istanbul’s most densely forested areas, the North Forests on the European continent, which meant the felling of thousands of trees, affecting the local ecosystem. 

The government was criticized for its decisions for urgent expropriation of the green areas impacted by the third bridge, as the areas are mostly covered with forests and water basins.

The third Bosphorus Bridge - controversially named after 16th century Ottoman Sultan Selim I, known in English as Selim the Grim - and its connecting highways are expected to cost Turkey around $3 billion. The construction began in 2013 and both of the bridge’s towers have already been completed. As of May, the Asian tower had reached 318 meters high, while the European one had risen to 322 meters.