Honolulu police are asking for information about 353 pounds of rubber-encased copper cable recovered by officers at Campbell Industrial Park.

The copper, worth an estimated $750, was found after a policeman chased a man he saw carrying a large coil of copper wire toward a beige mid-size SUV on Wednesday.

Twelve cables — each weighing about 30 pounds — were recovered from the scene at Kaomi Loop, near Campbell Industrial Park.

At a news conference yesterday, police Lt. Daniel Ford said he was on his way to the dedication for a new city corporate yard in Campbell Industrial Park about 9:30 a.m. when he saw the man. The man fled when he saw Ford's blue uniform.

"Inside the car was already several (cable) coils and then ... (the man) rounded the corner carrying one," he said. "He saw me and dropped it and ran. He was running up toward his friend, the friend was hauling cable, and he dropped that and ran."

Ford said he chased the two men, both possibly in their early 40s, about 100 yards down the beach walk near Kaomi Loop. Although dispatch was called and the police helicopter was sent, the men escaped.

Two days later, police have received no reports tied to the recovered cable or inquiring about the vehicle found at the scene, a 2001 Kia Sportage.

Police yesterday said they cannot search the vehicle until it is identified and claimed by the registered owner. Ford said police are trying to contact the owner.

Ford said police may not investigate the matter until the copper wire is identified by its owner.

The cable, with a diameter of about an inch, has been categorized by Hawaiian Electric Co. as underground cable, Ford said. He added, however, that with several construction sites in the Kapolei area, police have yet to identify where the cable came from. It is marked in white letters that say "Rome cable 350 MCM."

Copper theft, Ford said, has become an almost weekly, and sometimes daily, occurrence islandwide.

"We have so much construction here, Kapolei is growing by leaps and bounds, unless you actually tie into the system ... (construction crews) may not even know it's gone," Ford said.

The copper was recovered across the street from Island Recycling, police said.

Jim Nutter, president of Island Recycling, said his company is no longer buying copper cable that has the ends burned off. Police said that was the case with the material recovered Wednesday.

"So much was being stolen and we couldn't recognize where it was from, so I made a decision that ... (Island Recycling) no longer purchases burned cable," Nutter said.

Some of the recovered copper was burned at the end but was not stripped of its rubber casing, police said.