The request increases, the larcencies multiply. To Railways, power plants, warehouses.
And the price on the market has tripled in just two years.
It is well known that our trains are not famous for their punctuality. But it is not fair blame it only on the railway company. If suddenly a train full of passengers getting to work is stopped because during the night many meters of copper, the metal used for signal systems and to give power, were stolen who is to be blamed? The Railway Company has estimated that in the last 4 months of 2006 there have been 370 larcencies of copper material, that caused more than 900 hours delay (about 39 days) on 2660 trains. Just in December in Roma 191 trains were stopped, 165 in Napoli, 101 in Torino. It is a real emergency, even if nobody is paying attention to it.
Thousands of citizens are paying the consequences everyday, but it looks like the problem doesn’t exist. We are talking about the larcency of copper, hundreds of kilometres of cables ripped from the railway (16000 Km). The economic damage is big: the Railway Company estimates that in 2005 and 2006 the loss for them has been about 12 milions euros. And in 2005 560 tons of copper were stolen, 1400 in 2006.
The Railway Company and the Police are involved in a very hard chase for the thieves, that are many: a very mixed universe made of groups of Romanians, but also by retired citizens, drug addicted people, Italian traders, looking for goods to sell, that, after being stolen, start a long trip to far east, over to China. Last spring, in the port of Gioia Tauro, 24 containers coming from Salerno and going to China were stopped, they contained 150 tons of copper.

The effort to prevent and stop this phenomenon risks to be in vain because the problem is underestimated. To first spread the alarm was the Minister of Interior, Giuliano Amato. He talked about it to a group of journalists: “ The issue about copper is very serious. Even amoung those who steel it the common opinion is that this is permitted. In Roma, last week, or Plice Officers arrested some copper steelers caught in a warehouse where thay had stored the stolen material. The Judge released them because it wasn’t proved that internal security was in danger”.
This is not news, if it is true that 5 years ago a citizen from Bulgary was released after he was caught and sent to trial for trying to steel 300 meters of copper cable from a sugar plant.
18 months in jail, released because uncensored.
Some time ago, in the ‘80’s, the tomatoes from Agro-Nocerino-Sarnese, at the base of Vesuvio, were called “Red Gold”. Because they produced wealthyness first of all. But also because that wealth was partly destined to the Camorra. It happened in the years of frauds to the EU, by many small plant run by the Camorra, which invested black money and doubled it thanks to the funds of the EU.
Today copper is the new “Red Gold”. The victims are not just the Railway Company, but also power plants ( often streets in big cities have a blackout), industries, warehouses. And it’s not just a national problem, it also happens in other countries of the EU.
Pietro Milone, captain of the Railway Police, coordinates the inquiring activity all over the country: “ 2006 has been the year of copper traffic, which is a European fact: in countries like Polonia and Germany larcencies have increased 5 times, in Italy they have doubled. But the problem exists also in §Belgium, Holland, France, Switzerland and even Romania, the country of origin of many copper thieves. According to our request, a European workin team was started, by Police and Railway Companies from the 26 countries of the EU. We have already had a first meeting in Varsavia. On our side, we have organized 15 special teams”.
Why has coppr become this much requested?
The Railway Copmany press agency has an opinion: “The request for copper is big on the market, but the production is unsufficient. In 2006 the price has doubled comparing to 2005, almost to 8000 euros per ton. In particular there are 2 reasons to explain this fact. The first one: long strikes on 2005, that stopped the extraction from the caves in Peru. The second one: the big demand coming from China, that is getting ready for 2008 Olympic Games”.
The last big Police operation was called “Operation Red Gold”. 543 companies were checked. The results were: 1 arrested, 17 suspected, 16890 Kg of copper found, property of Railway Company.
The control activity is more intense since last May: 1751 warehouses were checked, 111 arrested : 73 Romanians, 30 Italians, 3 Bulgarians, 3 Serbians, 2 Moldavians. 208 were accused (60% warehouse owners, 40% detaining stolen material, most of them from East Europe). 393805 Kg of stolen copper found, for about 2756635 euros.
This scenary is incredible: from 2005 to 2006 the larcencies have tripled. “Up to today we have had 2000 tons of copper stolen, more then 2000 Km of cables, the distance from Firenze to Lisbon”.
The business around stolen copper involves many and it attacks mostly Lazio, Campania and Piemonte. The thieves are mainly groups of citizens from East Europe, but also common people trying to increase their salary or get money to buy drug. Copper is taken to metal warehouses, then big export companies, not knowing where that copper comes from, buy this material to send it to China.
Police and Railway Company are controlling carefully warehouses and railways. To limit this phenomenon the Railway Company is changing, on the over 16000 Km of cables, from copper to a aluminium-steel alloy and other alternative materials less requested on the market. But it will take 2 more years to complete this operation.

By Guido Ruotolo