EDMONTON – Vandals caused well over $500,000 in damage at a construction site in a town southwest of Edmonton.
Devon RCMP said around 11 p.m. Sunday, vandals used excavators to dig a hole and completely bury a Komatsu packer, which is a large piece of construction equipment.
“Anybody who has worked construction knows the size of that kind of machinery. That’s the machinery that was in an excavation hold and was buried right overtop of it,” said Insp. Gibson Glavin, RCMP.
Watch below: Vandals cause thousands of dollars in damage to construction equipment
A GPS had to be used to find the equipment. Once unearthed, the visible damage could be seen on the metal body and front grill of the machine.
“Somebody spent a lot of time here, it’s just willfully stupid, it truly is,” Glavin said.
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Mounties said the excavators were also used to damage other machines like rock trucks and land scrapers. Photos supplied by police show a John Deere excavator with crumpled metal panels.
Devon RCMP are asking for the public’s helping in finding those responsible for the vandalism.
“Nothing has been ruled out, but the obvious thing is does anyone have a reason to want to damage this equipment or interfere with this construction site,” said Glavin.
Police believe whoever committed the crime must have had knowledge on how to use the equipment.
Glavin said the act has a “terrible impact.”
“At this time when people are losing contracts, here we have a construction site, someone is employing people, now they’re going to be down for some time.”
Anyone with information is asked to contact Devon RCMP at 780-987-3413 or Crimestoppers at 1-800-222-8477.
The construction site is in southeast Devon along Highway 19, about 40 kilometres southwest of Edmonton.
With files from Michel Boyer
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