Copper Thieves Strike Again. And Again and Again.
The price of copper futures hit a new high of $5.24 per pound on 26 March this year. It’s not coincidental that rail traffic in Spain came to a halt the night of Sunday, 4 May, with outages that lasted until the afternoon of 5 May. The culprit for this delay: copper wiring that thieves stole from the signaling system in five locations.
The BBC reported that the outage affected more than 10,000 passengers and at least 30 trains. Many passengers were stranded on trains overnight. It was the second time within a week’s span that the system went dark—the major power outage that struck the electrical grid of Spain and Portugal the prior weekend also stopped trains.
Authorities said the thefts occurred in areas easily accessible by forest trails, and the amount of copper stolen was relatively small, worth no more than 1,000 euros. They also said the primary motive may have been sabotage rather than profit.
However, copper theft has been increasing in many places around the globe in recent years, including Europe and North America. Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, there was a five- to seven-year period when copper prices had fallen and remained comparatively low. When the markets tanked in 2020 as a result of COVID-19, the price of copper shot back up and, with some fluctuations, has remained high.
Spanish news site The Local reported that copper in the rail infrastructure is a frequent target of thieves. There were 72 thefts in 2022, 151 in 2023, and 46 in the just the first four months of 2024, according to the latest statistics available.
“It's not only in Spain where railway copper theft [is] occurring, as similar criminal acts are in fact delaying thousands of passengers across the continent and causing millions of euros worth of damage to rail infrastructure throughout Europe," The Local reported.
Euronews reported that Germany saw 450 cases of metal theft from rail companies, France thefts affected more than 40,000 trains in 2022, the UK attributed 84,390 minutes of delays to copper thieves during its 2022-2023 fiscal year, and Belgium saw a 300 percent increase in copper thefts from 2021 to 2022.
In the United States, copper capers wreaked havoc on landline telephone service in the Los Angeles region in late 2024, disrupted internet service in Houston, and on a newly built elementary school in Albuquerque. Canada is not immune either.
Organizations and municipalities are turning to a variety of techniques to try to combat the epidemic. Several of the European rail companies have upped their use of security cameras—fixed and on drones—as well as burying more cables, and the Albuquerque school built better fencing. USTelecom, an association representing telecommunications companies, addressed the growing problem in a report published last month. In the report, USTelecom listed several recommendations on how to protect against copper theft, including:
- Enhancing relationships with law enforcement to facilitate quick alarm response and arrests.
- Working with utility coalitions on theft and vandalism issues.
- Offering monetary rewards for information leading to the arrest and conviction of individuals involved in copper theft and/or vandalism.
- Engaging in educational outreach and awareness with the recycling industry.
- Increasing security measures, such as investing in enhanced site security measures, like surveillance systems, security personnel, and advanced technology (e.g., Ensurity trackers & AirTags) to protect their infrastructure. (Proof that tracking can work.)
- Working with landlords to improve building security and verify credentials before granting access to rooftop facilities.
- Managing their infrastructure to address the problem, whether by using metal pipes and casings at risers, downsizing cable and pairs, or facility service re-routing and trimming of trees from copper.
- Improving processes to better identify cable markings, preserve evidence of vandalism, and verify the legitimacy of contractors and employees.
A 2018 article from Security Management—which goes to show the issue of copper theft is not a new story—describes how a lot of these recommendations were put into action by Canadian utilities.
