WTF, people stealing copper cables.

[Polyal]

I was watching sunrise, and that guy that does the traffic report said that a boom gate was down somewhere in melb because someone stole a copper cable that goes across the tracks.

Now, the only reason I could think of this happening would be to sell it for scrap to get some cash, but then people are going to know who is stealing it if you do that.

I dont even know what cable they are talking about, but apparently this seems to be a trend.

Thought it was rather strange, someone is either really stupid, or has a genius idea.

Anyone else heard of this, or why someone would do it?

[HOON69]

you know the funny thing

copper=money and you right it was def to sell it,wouldnt take much to find the culprit all the police would have to do is go to the local scrap yard and ask if anyone bring in a load of copper lately..


i remember a month or two ago i was out 4wd and had to cross over crown land (railway) and long and behold i saw 2 guys taking down the old wire from the old lines
(copper) i did see a ranger in there and it must of spooked them cause they bolted,i went back through a month later to find it was gone,sources told me it was another person who grabbed it that night and was sold for 800 dollars (thats alot fo wire)

so yeah thieving scum do things to make money scrap metal is profitable,i also seen a bloke kerbsiding grabbed scrap metal i asked him why he gets only metal etc,he said "scraps makes money" i asked how much he said in 5 trailer loads in 5 days he made 680 dollars (kerbside material)

so yeah its all about $$$$

[Mechan1k]

Mate of mine is a plumber ... and he has to be careful where he leaves his work vehicle ... and if it standing for a while ... to actually take the copper piping off ... as he has had some go missing from time to time on some jobs.

[Charliewool]

This has been happening for a while!.. Copper has increased in value 5 FOLD since 2000!
Now around $8000 a tonne.
From the AGE...
November 23, 2006

SCRAP metal thieves forced the cancellation of some train services yesterday, leaving peak-hour commuters angry.

The thieves removed six metres of copper wiring from overhead lines near the Richmond station, creating rail havoc.

Around 30 services along the Epping and Hurstbridge lines were cancelled, leaving thousands of commuters stranded.

The theft was noticed just after 7.30am, with services returning to normal after 9am.

It was the latest in a spate of copper thefts — fuelled by soaring world prices for the metal — that have disrupted rail services in Melbourne and overseas.

A Connex spokeswoman said more than 500 trains had been delayed after a spate of 20 copper thefts.

"Thieves are really taking their lives into their own hands," she said.

At one stage 350 kilometres of copper wire running between Ballarat and Ararat was stolen but had no effect on train services.

Earlier this month 250,000 rail commuters in Italy suffered delays after copper was stolen from signals and other safety equipment. More than 20 people were arrested and charged over hundreds of rolls of copper wiring found in containers waiting to be smuggled to China.

In Victoria, copper is also being stolen from building sites, housing estates and even schools to fuel the demand.

Scrap copper can be sold for up to $8000 a tonne.

The price of copper has increased dramatically over the past two years, with a construction boom in China creating a huge demand.

The thefts have prompted police to set up a taskforce to tackle the problem.

Detective Senior Sergeant Brian Clarke of the transit squad said five men had been arrested and at least one copper theft ring had been smashed as police investigate thefts in recent months.

"It's not worth what they are doing and they are placing themselves in serious injury or death and we'd like to see it stopped as soon as possible," Senior Sergeant Clarke said.

Transport Minister Peter Batchelor said "I think this is outrageous. It's wrong to call it vandalism, it's down-and-out theft, and it's an attack on the travelling public.

"If anyone has any information … they should go to the police."

Australian Metal Recycling Industry Association secretary Paul Ryan said dealers were working with police to try to stop thefts. "Our industry is trying really hard to stop the trade of stolen metals and we are becoming much more vigilant," Mr Ryan said.

The association sends out notices warning dealers when a large quantity of copper has been stolen. If a shipment fitting the description of stolen copper turns up, the dealers call the police. Mr Ryan said the association also had a code of conduct forbidding members from knowingly buying stolen materials.

[niko]

i heard that on building sites, jobs have to be streamlined to 1 day as if things are left unfinished, low lifes cut off as much as they can, leaving another whole job to be redone as it all has to be pulled out and relayed lol

[vztrt]

copper cost a alot, at work we had the sparkies do 9 cable runs to rewire part of the plant. Cable cost alone was $300,000. These were 250m runs of 630mm2 cable (except for the earth).

[schmidty]

My sparky was telling me the other day that he has some overseas company that buys and scrap cable, offcuts or old stuff they've pulled out when doing rewires.

They give him $800 per trailer load.Stuff they used to throw in the bin, now all gets kept, because they do a lot of work and probably cash in a trailer load every few weeks.

I also met a guy on a snorkelling trip in Phuket who owns a scrap metal yard in brisbane. He was telling me that either him, or a rival yard (memory is a bit vauge) stockpiled copper for the last 6 years because they knew the walue was going to go up, but never realised it would be so much. They had over 500T stockpiled. Better investment than any bank account!!!!!

[niko]

supply and demand i suppose, the demand for any metal especially aluminium and copper is unbeleivable! which is also reflected in the price of cable itself... which has also seen a price hike

[superpursuit83]

In Perth the police were blocking exits from new suburbs and searching everyone, people had to justify the materials they had in there ute/van. There are people ripping the copper pipe out of the brickwork on nearly completed homes, causing thousands of dollars damage.

I just finished moving a Kiln from an old china factory, as soon as we exposed the copper piping etc, it was gone the next morning WTF?? The thieves are quick!!

[vztrt]

Originally Posted by niko

supply and demand i suppose, the demand for any metal especially aluminium and copper is unbeleivable! which is also reflected in the price of cable itself... which has also seen a price hike

funny enough the price of copper has actually dropped but cable prices are still sky high (they're like the oil companies). So much for a free market.

[Jesk]

damn my father used to get pittance from that stuff when he used to be a windmill repairer but now it would be quite a lucrative sideline, we didn't even get $100 for trailerloads before

[RIPGMH]

We turn out hundreds and hundreds of copper anodes every day. (375kg too heavy to knock off)

[Mechan1k]

Originally Posted by RIPGMH

We turn out hundreds and hundreds of copper anodes every day. (375kg too heavy to knock off)

Surely you can easily fit it in the back of the ute ... no way they can catch you either.
:hihi:

[pecker73]

This happened last week in Ballarat. 40 Copper Taps stolen from cemetary..

Herald Sun Linky

[Mechan1k]

Stealing from the dead ... that's not very nice at all.

[GK]

Originally Posted by pecker73

This happened last week in Ballarat. 40 Copper Taps stolen from cemetary..

Herald Sun Linky

What a disgrace, see what our society is slowly becoming?

GK

[Dazza XLT]

We sell Copper in fertiliser form. The price has skyrocketed big time, to the extent that people no longer use it!
Only a matter of time before people started to pinch it.

[dan.76]

tell me about it , cable that used to cost me 40 bucks is now 109 on special and i use a few rolls being a sparky

[NC1183]

Our scape-metal guy has to justify where all his copper comes from, as people were stealing the telstra and railway stuff.

Thank goodness all our copper for work is on big heavy drums.

[RIPGMH]

Originally Posted by Mechan1k

Surely you can easily fit it in the back of the ute ... no way they can catch you either.
:hihi:

My ute on a mining lease, the fun I could have. :eclipsee_

[GXL078]

as with all the problems of the world, its Chima's fault again. Have you seen how fat the copper tracks are in an electrical switch box?, they are HUGE, 2 or 3 inches THICK. Mudt cost a bomb.

[DoreSlamR]

a sub division job where a mate of mine worked at had 3/4's of a roll stolen over a weekend.
The crew who were laying the cable actually buried it in the sand to stop thieves.
Didn't work...bastards!

[Vdouw]

Yea being a chippy and doing reno's all copper and aluminium gets seperated and thrown into trailers and bins then the boss scraps it and makes a few quid. He's been doing it for years. But there is a simple rule of thumb it sound most tradies and idiots are forgetting. If you leave it laying around IT GONE NUMB NUTS!

[Falcon_Phill]

A guy used to pay me and a friend to 'take' it from unused factories when i was in high school. Its definatly nothing new.

[ebxr8240]

Sheesh the tons of the stuff I'v dropped out from 11Kv thats no longer required...
We've had it stollen from work in big drums, they always get cought though...

[smiley]

Actually, at work one of the other electricians had finished roughing in cables at a big job were doing in sunshine and one night, someone came in, ripped all the cables out and nicked off with them. We estimated they made off with about $5,000 worth. This time, we had a security fence put up and had to rough in all the cables again. :(

[old_mate]

being a sparky we havent had anything knocked off touch wood, but we all pitch in and manage to get 3 cartons worth of scrap to the merchants every month or so. Plus the stuff we actually give back to the boss to scrap lol

i think we get about 2.30 a kilo maybe more?

[InfernoSR]

We had 2tonnesof scrap radiators stollen.....NOTHING! :(

[MITCHAY]

If it's worth money, ********* steal it. Hell they sometimes steal it just because they are ********* :

[XR Martin]

Most of the scrap copper ends up in China too. Why? Because being non ferous, there is no way to seperate it from other non ferous metals and so it has to be all sorted by hand.