Found this story -- which, sadly, has become a common one -- lurking near the bottom of my "recent news" pile.
From the BBC News in the UK:
Gang rips out 1km of phone cable
Hundreds of people were left without their landline phone service for nearly 48 hours after thieves stole 1km (0.6 mile) of copper cabling....
...[Sussex Police] officers believe thieves posing as workers wearing uniforms or high-visibility jackets used a vehicle to pull the cable out of the ground and take it away...
...[Policeman] Thomas Stallard said: "Manholes running along the side of the road were used to access the cables and it appears the grass over some of the manholes was dug up to reach the sealed covers. The cable is 6in to 8in in circumference and is very heavy."
Every notice how there often seems to be some vaguely spectacular, caperish element to these copper theft stories? Thieves posing as workers used a vehicle to pull the cable out of the ground? Dang!
Or does the concept of "theft" just generally imply a certain amount of spectacle? Well...that's not a question for here. But here's what we can say: whenever the topic is copper, things get interesting. I can tell you that we here at the editorial desk certainly notice the popularity of such news, in terms of pageviews on the Web site.
And here's the thing about this rash of copper theft: it's absolutely becoming rampant, occurring every day all over this great country of ours, often causing considerable inconvenience.
So, finally, here's what I'm wondering: Are these stories just like belly buttons? Does everybody have one?
What say you, audience -- heard anything? Feel free to share any tales of copper theft, weird or otherwise, in the comments section below. Maybe from your town or region, maybe from a job site you've worked on, maybe from an installation you're involved in right at this very moment. We'd love to hear from you. -- Matt Vincent, Senior Editor
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4 comments:
We have the same problem here in Puerto Rico, especially the rural areas. They are not as sophisticated though, someone climbs up, cuts the cable,then walk along as far as they can either carry (or fit in their trunk) and cut again. Were talking just 200PR cable here, folks-my question is-who the heck buys this stuff?? Any recycler worth his salt will refuse to buy this-you'd think.
Yet another reason to install fiber!
It seems like that in most modernised countries have the same problem. I live in Tijuana Mexico. As you say copper theft is going rampant here also, in some elementary schools on weekends theifs have stripped some two or three class rooms, and they just pull the wire thru the conduit and their off and running.
Here in Tanzania they steal copper cables together with aluminium overhead electric transmission cables.The reason of the increase in theft is the business of scrap metal.When Fiber was first introduced, they vandalized it after finding they have no use of it.
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