Police have said that the destruction of a 30-meter 4G telecom tower in Mullumbimby, Australia, has likely been caused by an act of vandalism.

The tower, which is owned by telco Optus, was toppled on May 18, with New South Wales Police estimating that this occurred “sometime between 12am and 8pm."

As reported by ABC News, the blame has been placed on vandals, who police are trying to track down.

Tweed-Byron Police District Inspector Matt Woods said they reached this conclusion as there was evidence of power tools being used to take down the towers.

"The bolts had been removed by a ratchet gun or something similar," said Woods.

"And as a result of that, it appears a weather event has come through and toppled the tower over, totally destroying it. It's more than vandalism, it's a totally reckless and dangerous act to take out towers."

In a statement, Optus acknowledged that damage to the tower had impacted the equipment it hosts at the site.

“We are aware that some customers in the Mullumbimby area are experiencing disruption to their services after a mobile tower was damaged in a suspected case of vandalism,” a spokesperson for the telco said, noting that it's working to restore service to the area.

“Optus leases the space on the tower from a third-party infrastructure provider to service Optus customers."

Cell towers have been targeted in Mullumbimby before, notably in 2022 when a tower owned by another telco, Telstra, was set alight.

It was reported at the time that residents were against the tower being upgraded to 5G due to concerns about the effects they claim it would harm their health.

Protesters had previously gathered at the tower during works on the site in 2020, with reports on the town saying locals feared 5G’s electromagnetic energy harms babies and interferes with local bees, insects, and birds. There's been no evidence presented to suggest that this is correct.