Metal thieves warned: Yule pay for your offending!

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With Christmas fast approaching thieves across the North West have been warned against stealing metal to help supplement their income.

And, to mark the beginning of advent, and the introduction of new laws designed to restrict the activity of metal thieves, police forces and partner agencies across the region held a week of action (3-7 December) to target thieves and scrap dealers intent on breaking the law.

More than 380 officers across the region took part in the special operation, dubbed Coast-to-Coast, which specifically looked at how stolen metal is transported – taking in docks, trunk roads and metal recyclers themselves.

Inspector Dave Rams, NW Regional Co-ordinator said: “With new legislation making it much easier to trace thieves at the point of sale of stolen metal we switched our attention to the methods used to transport the material.

“This was a huge undertaking and we worked closely with several industries, as well as agencies such as HMRC, Environment Agency, Network Rail and UK Border Force, to build a clear intelligence picture of how stolen metal is moved on.”

During the week north west officers visited more than 150 scrap metal recycling yards and stopped more than 2,300 vehicles.

As a result, in Blackburn, Lancashire officers discovered more than £2,200 of copper piping which is believed to have been stolen from a nearby house.

During the same day of the operation officers seized more than 350kg of BT cabling which, enquiries have revealed netted the thief around £450, but would cost more than £10,000 to reinstate on the communication network.

In Prescot, Merseyside, a 17-year-old youth was discovered at a power sub-station and has since been charged with burglary – he will appear at court on 18 December.

Meanwhile, in Manchester, following a routine check at a scrap metal recyclers a man was arrested on suspicion of theft and handling stolen goods.

Insp Rams added: “Coast to Coast was an extensive operation that delivered a significant message across the region.

“For several months communities and industry have been blighted by metal theft. “With the advent of new legislation, combined with co-ordinated police and partner activity, we can now take the fight to metal thieves and rogue dealers.

“With Christmas on the horizon some criminals may be tempted to turn to metal theft as an extra means of income – our message to them is clear – ‘Yule be sorry if you do!’

“We will continue to run large-scale operations and will work together to take action against thieves and the small number of rogue dealers who step outside the law.”