£50,000 worth of copper granules stolen

£50,000 worth of copper granules stolen

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Up to £50,000 worth of copper granules have been stolen by thieves following two raids in Rochdale.

The offenders have targeted a business on Buckley Road, Rochdale, twice in the space of five days.

The first theft took sometime between 2.00am and 3.45am on 9 February 2015, and the second between 6.00pm on 14 February 2015 and 6.00am the following morning.

On the first occasion, they broke in after cutting their way through the padlocked security guards leading to a service road off Buckley Road.

After trying, and failing, to smash their way in by breaking the glass panel in the roller shutter door, the gang then used some sort of weapon or tool to knock a 3ft by 3ft hole in the brick wall.

Once inside, the gang then shovelled more than nine tonnes of copper granules into between 20 and 30 large drums. They then loaded the drums onto either a white Transit van and/or a dark coloured car and drove off.

It is estimated that up to £40,000 worth of copper granules were stolen.

On the second occasion, they cut their way through a locked metal fence and again removed brickwork from one of the outer walls. Again, they used shovels to put the copper granules into metal tubs and loaded up two vans before driving off. This time they stole £10,000 worth of granules.

Police are now appealing to anyone who has information to come forward and have released images of the granules themselves, the drums in which they were stored before being taken and of the hole they created to gain entry.

Police Constable Lorraine Norbury said: "It is clear these were not opportunistic break-ins: these was executed after a great deal of pre-planning and organisation by a gang of professional criminals who were intent on stealing thousands of pounds worth of metal.

"They are obviously well aware that the granules could be lucrative if sold on the black market and have gone to considerable lengths to transport more than ten tonnes worth of copper, striking twice in the space of just five days.

"We have issued pictures of the granules themselves and the drums within which they were shovelled into before being stolen, so I would urge people to look very carefully at these drums as they are quite identifiable and each has its own unique batch number.

"In particular, I would urge scrap metal dealers not just in Rochdale but across Manchester to be vigilant and if you are offered copper granules in either these drums or in any other form, please contact the police immediately."

Anyone with information is asked to call police on 101 or the independent charity Crimestoppers, anonymously, on 0800 555 111.