Police say they have arrested 22 people in the past month alone on charges of stealing copper wire. Many of the accused have been identified as Romanian immigrants.
In Naples, police recently seized dozens of sea containers filled with stolen copper coils parked in the port area ready for shipment to China.Similar thefts have hit the Channel Tunnel Rail Link project in London, and theft of copper cables was responsible for at least one fatal crash in China. Which makes one wonder whether the plague of "signal failures" on the Tube (such as the one that crippled the Victoria Line this morning) has anything to do with this.
Again !
This type of crime is happening in Australia too. This morning there were issues with boom gates stuck down at the end of the South Gippsland Highway in Dandenong on the Pakenham line due to cable theft. Trains Ok, Road Traffic Nasty.