Copper wire seized in scrap metal bust (From Enfield Independent)

Copper wire seized in scrap metal bust

4:35pm Monday 8th February 2010

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SCRAP metal totalling £4,000 has been recovered in an operation to try and deter thefts from railways and gravesides around Enfield.

The clampdown comes after thieves took 16 brass plaques from Broomfield Park with an estimated street value of £90,000 last year, along with the discovery of a bag of plaques apparently abandoned by thieves in Enfield Crematorium in 2007.

Enfield police say telephone cables, copper wires and even sections of bridges and railway track have been pilfered to be melted down and sold as scrap.

Jubilee ward Safer Neighbourhoods Team has recently teamed up with the British Transport Police, British Telecom (BT) and Network Rail for Operation Tardelli.

Seven scrap metal dealers were searched under the Scrap Metals Act, and BT cabling and Network Rail cabling, which contained more than four thousand pounds worth of copper, was recovered from three different scrap yards.

Sergeant Ian Davey, Jubilee Safer Neighbourhoods Team, said: "Enfield has experienced several high profile thefts, including war memorial plaques, crematorium plaques and lead from vulnerable premises such as churches and schools. Operation Tardelli has been designed to target the people that commit these shocking and cowardly crimes. The visits to the scrap yards were the first part of the operation and was to remind the yards of their responsibilities to check metals coming in and to provide contact numbers for them should any stolen metals be offered to them. We understand that they have a livelihood to make and we will be supporting them to make changes to make sure they don't break the law."

Sergeant Scott Darrah, route crime officer for BTP, which has the national lead for investigating metal theft, said: “Metal theft from the railway can cause major delays and costs the railway industry a substantial amount of money. Thanks to the rise in the price of metals, particularly copper, thieves are increasingly willing to steal cabling from the railway, risking not just a criminal record, but also their lives.”

The operation is set to continue and police say more searches will be carried out.

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