Copper scrap is again in price

    The theft of copper cables has become a real headache for the largest US telecom AT&T. Recently, cable thefts have become much more frequent. The company attributes this to the rise in price of non-ferrous metals in world markets and the worsening economic situation in the United States.

    There was a time when copper cables were stolen literally every day in the CIS in the early 90s. A similar situation is now in the city of Atlanta in the southern United States. In the Fulton area, the number of theft of telephone wires is estimated at ten per week. Each time they steal from 60 to 360 meters of cable, as a result of which dozens of houses remain without communication. In one of the thefts over the past three days, more than 7,000 houses and two schools were left without communication. It got to the point where AT&T announced a $ 3,000 awardfor information that will help find and arrest thieves from Fulton.

    According to experts , one kilogram of copper scrap costs about $ 6 on the black market.

    Atlanta is not the only place where locals trade in theft and marketing of non-ferrous scrap. For example, the energy company Appalachian Power published a report according to which more than 160 km of power cables have recently been stolen in West Virginia alone. Their replacement costs the company about $ 1 million per year.

    Police report similar cases from all over the country.(links only for the last two days). For example, in one place in New Jersey, the cable was cut three times in the last two months, the damage was $ 13,000. One company in the same state reported the theft of $ 75,000.

    In 2008, the FBI published a report on this subject . According to their data, an increase in the number of thefts has been observed since 2006, and this "threatens critical infrastructure, since vulnerable are electrical substations, cell towers, landline telephone lines, railways, water tanks, construction sites and empty houses."

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