Thieves rip off SIM cards from Johannesburg's traffic signals

Criminals in Johannesburg are raiding the city's traffic signals for the SIM chips that allow them to be monitored and reprogrammed using the phone network; the SIMs can be inserted into regular phones to make free, anonymous calls. T

The components were ripped out by the criminals from the traffic lights and used to make unlimited calls that have cost JRA a lot of money…

In early December 2010 there were also reports of thieves removing traffic light poles to sell them for scrap metal.

Robots theft 'a huge blow'

(via Schneier)

(Image: Commissioner Street, a Creative Commons Attribution (2.0) image from mister-e's photostream)