Mayo is just one of a number of counties throughout the country hit by ‘copper thieves’ in recent weeks with phone lines featuring as major targets. Residents and businesses are now being warned about ongoing thefts of copper from homes and premises following a spate of robberies of the valuable metal commodity.
In County Kilkenny alone last week hundreds of residents had to go without phone services and internet access after thieves went to the trouble of cutting phone lines and stripping them of their inner copper wires. Homes - particularly empty holiday homes - have also been hit with copper water tanks and pipes being removed for their copper value.
Copper is one of a number of world commodities and according to protection specialist Netwatch such theft is not unusual as criminals take advantage of increasing commodity prices to line their pockets.
Two 28-year-old men were arrested in Carlow over last weekend in connection with thefts in the south east. Both were charged and are due to appear before Carlow District Court on September 22 next. No property has been recovered and investigations are ongoing.
With the black market demand for copper and other commodities now leading to increased criminal activity, David Walsh, chief executive of Netwatch, says the company has seen over 200 incidents in the past six months where commodities such as copper, diesel, and lead were the primary target of the criminal. This compares to 120 incidents in the full 12 months prior to that.
“We recently had an incident where criminals arrived outside a Netwatch protected site with a stripping machine on the back of their vehicle. Their intention was clearly to remove the wiring from the unoccupied buildings and strip the copper out to sell it. Luckily our command centre intervened before any damage was done and the gang was subsequently apprehended by gardaí,” he said.
In addition to stripping out electrical wiring, the company has witnessed criminals target lead on roofs, copper piping, and even immersion tanks. Black market demand for lead, aluminium, and copper has been increasing in line with rising commodity prices on worldwide markets. This week there were reports of possible worldwide copper shortages in 2011 which is bound to increase this type of activity.
“Unoccupied buildings and construction sites are particularly vulnerable as thieves assume no one will challenge them and they will have plenty of time to carry out often complex thefts,” added Mr Walsh.
Copper faces a “deepening supply crunch” and record prices are highly likely in the next two years, Barclays Capital noted in a report on July 27. “With few new large-scale mines on the horizon and stagnation at existing facilities, in our view, price direction will be upwards,” according to the report.
Mr Walsh of Netwatch advised business owners and property management companies to be aware of the visibility of commodities on their premises and to watch out for entry points that may give criminals easy access.
