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Some Londoners Cut Off As Failed Copper Thieves Take Fiber

Posted by timothy on from the friday-the-13th dept.

judgecorp writes "About 37,000 Sky broadband and phone customers lost their connection, as incompetent copper thieves raided BT's infrastructure... and took fibre. Some scrap metal dealers will pay £4 per kg for stolen copper cables, but there is no dark market for fibre, so the thieves didn't make anything — which might be some small consolation to customers, some of whom had to wait for two days for BT to repair the inaccessible cables."

34 of 184 comments (clear)

  1. failed copper thieves in the US are deep-fried by turkeydance · · Score: 2

    or Crispy Kritters as the constables call them

    1. Re:failed copper thieves in the US are deep-fried by pixelpusher220 · · Score: 3, Funny

      repair the inaccessible cables

      Well not to the thieves...

      --
      People in cars cause accidents....accidents in cars cause people :-D
    2. Re:failed copper thieves in the US are deep-fried by Jarik+C-Bol · · Score: 5, Funny

      Great anecdote (or myth) about copper thieves from my area. Supposedly (and i've never actually confirmed this story, but it sure sounds good). Some copper thieves purchased a old power company truck at auction, which still had the giant spool assembly on it. They modified this spool rig to run in reverse very quickly, and supposedly, over the course of a few days or weeks, went along several miles of phone line on poles and detached the cable from the insulators, and left it lying on the crossbeams of the telephone poles. This meant that the phone system still worked. Then, on the final night, they went out, cut the line at both ends of their work, hooked it to the truck, and spooled it up. They took two miles of copper in a matter of minutes.

      This story goes well with the story that some drug runners bought the same model pickup as the local power company used, painted the local power company's logo on it, and was driving on private back country roads to avoid the border patrol stations, pretending to be inspecting lines, or whatever, until some rancher noticed that the logo was hand painted and had a spelling error or some such nonsense.

      of course, all this is probably fiction designed to scare the outsiders, but it sure makes for good entertainment!

      --
      I've decided to Diversify my Holdings. I've divided my cash between my left and right pockets, instead of all in one.
    3. Re:failed copper thieves in the US are deep-fried by sjames · · Score: 2

      A quick read of your link suggests that the owner is in trouble more for the generally run down condition of the complex (including uninhabitable buildings) rather than for the death of the copper thief.

    4. Re:failed copper thieves in the US are deep-fried by mjwalshe · · Score: 2

      Apparently in the UK at least one stolen BT van was used by thieves as cover in the past

  2. There's a solution you know by msobkow · · Score: 2

    Declare the copper thieves terrorists and have them shot.

    --
    I do not fail; I succeed at finding out what does not work.
    1. Re:There's a solution you know by Kaenneth · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Destruction of public infrastructure should be it's own, separate charge, on top of the theft.

    2. Re:There's a solution you know by GrammarPoliceChief · · Score: 2

      Hello, hello, hello. What's going on here then?

    3. Re:There's a solution you know by jratcliffe · · Score: 4, Funny

      That would be "Her Majesty's Pound Me in the Arse Prison."

    4. Re:There's a solution you know by sabri · · Score: 3, Funny

      If they really want to live in a place with no infrastructure then exile to a barren island would be a suggestion..

      We've tried that before... That island now has its own Fiber Network... :)

      --
      I'm not a complete idiot... Some parts are missing.
    5. Re:There's a solution you know by ShaunC · · Score: 4, Insightful

      "Her Majesty's Bugger-Me-Arse Bin."

      --
      Thanks to the War on Drugs, it's easier to buy meth than it is to buy cold medicine!
    6. Re:There's a solution you know by Trepidity · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Destruction of public infrastructure is not only not a separate charge in the UK, there is even a whole party that advocates for it!

      --
      10 PRINT CHR$(205.5+RND(1)); : GOTO 10
    7. Re:There's a solution you know by HJED · · Score: 3, Informative

      You should read the news more, sadly the new incompetent government has abandoned the old incompetent government's plan to build the network (for all intents and purposes anyway - we're getting obsolete copper instead)

      --
      null
    8. Re:There's a solution you know by oobayly · · Score: 2

      Do you need permission from both owners of the bed, or only just one?

  3. So high in Fiber, You'll crap rainbows! by VortexCortex · · Score: 4, Interesting

    As someone who has spliced fiber: It's such a PITA, no wonder no one's buying it. I almost feel sorry for the NSA goons who had to splice all that fiber optic cable to create PRISM. A couple of days to restore operation is awesome. Kudos to Sky broadband workers who repaired the cluster fsck.

    1. Re:So high in Fiber, You'll crap rainbows! by petermgreen · · Score: 2

      out of interest what aspect(s) of it do you find to be a PITA?

      --
      note: i'm known as plugwash most places but i screwd up registering that here somehow in the past and now can't register
    2. Re:So high in Fiber, You'll crap rainbows! by rhook · · Score: 3, Insightful

      PITA? The splicer does most of the work for you.

  4. "Dark Market"? by erroneus · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I have never heard of a "dark market" before. Is this a more "PC" way of saying "Black Market"? I know I recently heard people asserting that "Black Friday" is racist, so is "Black Market" also racist?

    1. Re:"Dark Market"? by wbr1 · · Score: 2

      It's like dark matter and dark energy. The observations say it should be there but we can't prove it.

      --
      Silence is a state of mime.
    2. Re:"Dark Market"? by hey! · · Score: 2

      A black market is a market in which transactions can be presumed to be illegitimate. For example a market in stolen organs is a "black market".

      A gray market is one which transactions can be presumed to be legal, but are considered undesirable by the original sources of the products. In a "gray market" transaction, the seller has valid title to the goods but is undercutting the manufacturer's attempts to establish different retail prices in different countries.

      So, I should think a "dark market" would be one which ostensibly exists for supporting legal transactions, but in which it is also commonplace to trade in stolen goods. That might better be called a "gray market", but that term is already taken.

      --
      Post may contain irony: discontinue use if experiencing mood swings, nausea or elevated blood pressure.
  5. Copper Fever by rmdingler · · Score: 2

    We have had thieves ruin 80 thousand dollars worth of HVAC equipment to steal a few hundred bucks of scrap copper and aluminum coil. In some ways, "cleaning" the material so it can be sold for top tier scrap is more work than a regular job.

    --
    Happiness in intelligent people is the rarest thing I know.

    Ernest Hemingway

    1. Re:Copper Fever by thebigmacd · · Score: 2

      Where I live (London, Ontario, Canada), scrap metal dealers will not buy wire which has been burned. You have to either manually strip the insulation off or sell it to them with insulation still on and get peanuts for it.

  6. Re:Simple solution by WilliamGeorge · · Score: 2

    Nice link, but next time a NSFW warning would be appreciated - not for the pictures of the burnt thieves, that's no biggie, but for the rather risque site logo and ads :/

    Thanks :)

    --
    William George
  7. I did exactly the oppposite by maxrate · · Score: 5, Funny

    I had a giant spool of fiber cable in my garage (about 1/2" thick cable, 12 strand burial 62.5 multimode) - 62.5 is pretty obsolete. Guys come around garbage night picking up scrap metal from homes on the street.... I tried leaving the giant spool of fiber out before and they knew it was fiber so they didn't take it. I waited a few months, I wrap a little bit of 24 pair cat 3 telephone cable on the very outer layer, BAM! entire 180lbs fiber spool gone by the metal guys! They got a few feet of copper, and a whole bunch of useless fiber, I was so happy! Remember, spool was heavy, took up too much space, I don't feel like having Kijiji/Craigslist people come to my home - I just wanted it gone. Cat 3 24pair?... no tears shed over that either.

    1. Re:I did exactly the oppposite by Jarik+C-Bol · · Score: 2

      Same way you get rid of your old couch pretty much. Put it on the street corner with a sign that says "free couch" and it will sit until it rots. Put a sign that says "Couch, 50$" and it will be gone before you get back to your front door.

      --
      I've decided to Diversify my Holdings. I've divided my cash between my left and right pockets, instead of all in one.
    2. Re:I did exactly the oppposite by bob_super · · Score: 2

      The frogs and fish who just received a new home would like to thank you for the beautification of the bottom of their pond...

      Do you actually believe that they didn't just throw your spool away the second they were told it was worthless? You're littering by proxy.

  8. Re:They Were Lucky by dwywit · · Score: 2

    Dayum! I doubt if they even knew what hit them.

    Evolution in action.

    --
    They sentenced me to twenty years of boredom
  9. WOOT by hurfy · · Score: 2

    Some of my neighborhood thieves have moved to London.

    Sounds like whoever stole the broken 20 year-old cassette deck out of the 40 year-old car sitting open in the driveway on flat tires. Must be a gold mine for sure! They even left all the knobs and bolts in the tray in the console with the wrench. Biggest WTF ever.

  10. Copper theft: the ultimate broken window fallacy by tompaulco · · Score: 2

    Copper theft is incredibly destructive for the return. For a couple of dollars worth of copper, they won't think twice about ruining a $10,000 air conditioner. Plus considering the amount of time it takes to steal the copper, they could have gotten a minimum wage job and made more money, and not have to go to jail or die at the end of the day. It just pisses me off how stupid these a-holes are and how much damage they cause to society as a whole.

    --
    If you are not allowed to question your government then the government has answered your question.
  11. Re:They Were Lucky by gweihir · · Score: 2

    Removed as "shocking and disgusting content". I wonder whether this wording is accidental....

    --
    Most ACs are not even worth the keystrokes to insult them. Be generically insulted by this and ignored otherwise.
  12. Re:Copper theft: the ultimate broken window fallac by gweihir · · Score: 2

    Well, accepting a huge damage to somebody else for a moderate personal gain is the very core definition of evil. Copper thieves, investment bankers, cult leaders and politicians all qualify.

    --
    Most ACs are not even worth the keystrokes to insult them. Be generically insulted by this and ignored otherwise.
  13. Standard UK cable theft techniques by stoatwblr · · Score: 5, Informative

    1: tying a rope around the cable, attached to a quad bike.
    2: 2 blokes stand at end end of the cable with sharpened spades. They stand on rubber mats.
    3: At a signal (walkie talkies or mobile phone), they simultaneously chop through the cable bundle.
    4: Someone on the quadbike revs up and rips the cable out of the duct.

    The thieves then roll the cable up at their leisure, usually having about 25-30 minutes to finish the deed before the police show up.

    It's standard practice to use vans painted up to look like genuine phone company items and for the theives themselves to dress as phone company workers

    The phone company (BT OpenEeach) and UK police have implemented procedures to get faster response to cable breaks and for police to attend the area automatically - that is why the thieves have 25-30 minutes instead of the 2-4 hours they previously had. As a result several prolific gangs have been caught, but only 1 in 50 cable thefts results in anyone being apprehended.

    SImilar tactics are also used to steal copper from the railway system - and that's despite cables carrying a few hundred volts.

    Only the really desperate (and foolish) ones try to steal from HV switchyards. The tactic there is to throw heavy chains over incoming 250kV lines to short them out, but because power distribution systems use rebreakers, those chains generally only last a couple of minutes before they melt.

    Penalties for being in a cable theft gang are esentially a slap on the wrist compared to the profits which can be made and even with recent tightening of laws, the penalties for handling stolen comms cables are laughable.

    Given that railway cable thefts can (and often do) result in upwards of a half a million people being stranded (often in trains, stalled on lines), there's some traction on calls to make a specific class of offence such as "interference with transport network/endangering transport" (which also includes lasing aircraft) with non--parole terms of at least 10 years.

  14. Re:Not a real surprise by stoatwblr · · Score: 2

    I've seen an anecdote that copper thieves around one Finnish airport left a sign on the "fiber" one saying "yeah, but we still had to dig it up to check"

  15. Re:Who buys recycled copper? by stoatwblr · · Score: 2

    Manhole cover theft is a bad enough problem in the UK that virtually all replacements are plastic.

    Seriously - and those things are generally only cast iron or steel in the first place.