Thread: Commodity prices spark new crimewave

Commodity prices spark new crimewave

Stephen Womack, Mail on Sunday
6 July 2008, 10:46am

There was shock in Plymouth after crooks stole four bronze plaques from the naval war memorial in the city, each carrying the names of fallen sailors. The plaques were stolen for their scrap value of about £200 each.

Though they were later recovered, last week's theft highlights a commodity crimewave that is sweeping Britain.
Soaring prices for scrap metal, oil and basic foodstuffs have seen crooks turning their attention to soft targets. Copper piping or wire can fetch about £2,500 a ton as scrap, lead might make £250 to £300 a ton. Platinum, part of catalytic converters in car exhausts, is worth about £30 a gram (see breakdown of prices below).

Much of the stolen metal is shipped overseas, with organised crime involved in a sophisticated distribution network.

Homeowners and businesses are equally at risk. Household losses range from heating fuel tanks being drained to cast-iron furniture taken from gardens. Even the vegetables in gardens or allotments have been targeted.

Frances Browning, spokeswoman for insurer Direct Line, says: 'We have seen a steady increase in commodity theft recently due to the resale value of metal and raw materials.

'Higher than usual levels of York stone are being stolen from gardens, especially in the Manchester area. Even small quantities of lead are disappearing from porches.'

And look twice the next time you see somebody working on the underside of a car. They could be trying to take the catalytic converter - suddenly a valuable item because of the platinum and rhodium metals inside.

Catalytic converters are used to reduce emissions from car exhausts, using the exotic metals to trap pollutants. For the most expensive vehicles, which may have twin converters, replacement parts can cost upwards of £1,000. Stolen parts can change hands for £100 to £150 each.

One victim is Richard Morley, managing director of Morley Slater, a car accident repair business in Derby.

At any one time the firm has about 200 vehicles at its site near Derby County FC's ground. It was targeted just before Christmas when seven cars were stripped of catalytic converters in one night.

Richard says: 'The thieves were organised. They came over an 8ft fence with 2ft of razor wire on top of that, into a compound that has 24-hour security.'

They targeted high-value cars, including a Mercedes. In total, it cost the firm £6,000 to replace the parts and repair the cars.

Richard says: 'I'm very angry. It was an expensive exercise and embarrassing to have to explain that vehicles in our care had been attacked.'

Another popular target is heating oil. Many homes in rural areas where there is no gas have oil-fired boilers. Tanks typically hold between 1,000 and 2,000 litres.

The cost of domestic oil has risen from about 33p a litre at the start of the year to more than 60p today, meaning a full tank could be worth up to £1,200.

Rural insurer NFU Mutual says: 'Until this year we had heard of only a handful of cases of this type of oil being stolen. In the first five months of 2008 we dealt with more than 50 claims.'

Rob Reddaway, 45, lost 1,100 litres of oil when thieves drained his tank in March. Rob, who runs a beef and dairy farm at Ashprington, Devon, had filled the 1,250-litre plastic tank just a couple of weeks earlier.

'The heating in the cottage suddenly stopped working. We thought it was the boiler, but an engineer checked it out and told us the tank was dry.

'We asked around and someone had seen a lorry parked outside the cottage, but had thought it was someone working for us.'

Hot property: crooks' targets

(Commodity - source - value)

Copper - Wires or pipes - £2,500 a ton

Lead - roofs - £300 a ton

Platinum - car exhausts - £30 a gram

Heating oil - fuel tanks - £1,200 a tank

http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/news/artic ... 2&ito=1565

Same thing going on here.......they hit the park and ride lots, steal the copper wires from train crossings etc., Brass vases from cemetaries, heck they've reported entire AC units being stolen from homes....ones where people live and aren't home, or new construction sites. It's scarey.

grave robbery is up in the US too.