Commodity Theft on the Rise

Canny thieves are targeting your phone lines.  Sound like a joke?  Well not for the hundreds of residents in Co. Kilkenny who were left without telephone and internet access following an incident where thieves took down phone lines and stripped them of the copper they contained.

David Walsh, Group CEO of Netwatch says the Kilkenny incident is not unusual as criminals take advantage of increasing commodity prices to line their pockets.  Netwatch 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 live CCTV Monitored site with a stripping machine in 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 Communication Hub intervened before any damage was done and the gang was subsequently apprehended by Gardai”, he says.

“These criminals have no regard for alarm systems, CCTV or any alarm monitoring system which is passive in nature and doesn’t deter them from carrying out the criminal activity. In addition to stripping out electrical wiring, we have seen 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”, says Walsh.  “Unoccupied buildings and construction sites which may have little or no alarm systems in place are particularly vulnerable as they assume no one will challenge them and they will have plenty of time to carry out often complex thefts”.

“Netwatch provides 24 / 7 live CCTV monitoring security and audio intervention at a fraction of the cost of traditional man guarding so many of the so called ghost housing estates could be protected not just from criminal activity but also from vandalism.  The Netwatch is more effective than traditional CCTV Monitoring, static security and intruder alarm monitoring combined”, said Walsh.

Mr. Walsh said business owners and property management companies should be aware of the visibility of commodities on their premises and should watch out for access points that may give criminals easy access.