Global surge in copper theft snares telecoms and trains

{"text":[[{"start":12.2,"text":"Police in Chile this year uncovered the country’s largest ever case of copper theft, in which criminals over five years sold nearly $1bn worth of stolen copper, including from telecoms cables diverted by technicians as they replaced old lines with fibre optics."}],[{"start":28.3,"text":"It was just one example of how a surge in copper prices to near-record highs is fuelling a worsening global outbreak of thefts and threatening the functioning of internet and power networks."}],[{"start":39.56,"text":"Criminal operations stretch from North and South America to Europe and Asia. Thieves are becoming more professional in response to rising prices, with organised crime groups increasingly interested in the copper wires and cables that criss-cross countries worldwide."}],[{"start":53.84,"text":"Chile’s “High Voltage” police operation found that the illicit metal had been shipped from the country, the largest global producer of copper, to buyers in China, a major consumer and the country where most of the world’s mined copper goes to be processed."}],[{"start":68.52,"text":"“This is no longer just a couple of guys robbing cables, there are whole groups with a hierarchical structure, defined roles and technical profiles,” said Santiago Bravo, a member of the copper task force in Chile’s police, which launched last year. “Criminal groups are always looking for new opportunities and they have found one in today’s copper prices,” he said."}],[{"start":null,"text":"

"}],[{"start":87.5,"text":"“It’s a big issue, and it is an issue globally,” said Robin Wiener, president of the Washington-based Recycled Materials Association. Thefts over the previous three months tracked by the group had been “significantly” higher than historic levels, with the situation getting “worse because the copper price is high”, she said recently."}],[{"start":107.24,"text":"Copper is used in sectors from construction to energy and technology, and analysts predict surging demand over the coming decades for the highly conductive metal that will be essential for the build-out of the data centres that underpin artificial intelligence and the electricity networks to power them."}],[{"start":123,"text":"The price of the metal rose by over 40 per cent last year to a series of record highs in the context of disruptions and disasters at major mines, and has remained at close to all-time highs this year."}],[{"start":134.18,"text":"Criminals looking for copper often target power and telecommunications cables, including on train tracks, as well as those inside electric vehicle charging stations and on wind and solar farms."}],[{"start":null,"text":""}],[{"start":145.06,"text":"In Canada, telecommunications group Bell said copper thefts across its network had risen by more than 700 per cent since 2022, and the company had suffered 918 incidents already this year, or an average of about five per day."}],[{"start":160.32,"text":"When the copper price started rallying strongly towards the end of last year is when “we saw things really start to ramp up”, said David Joice, director of network operations. The cost to Bell was “millions of dollars per year”, and a single incident might impact as many as “tens of thousands of customers”, he said."}],[{"start":178.56,"text":"Chile’s largest electricity provider CGE reported a record 1,426 incidents of copper theft in 2025, twice as many as the year before, with 420km of cables stolen, causing power cuts for 260,000 customers."}],[{"start":195.9,"text":"In the northern copper-producing regions of Chile, meanwhile, thieves have started taking the metal directly from mines, or violently holding up warehouses and transport vehicles."}],[{"start":206.44,"text":"Criminals from South America to the US and Europe are also targeting solar and wind farms, which tend to be remotely located and often have limited security."}],[{"start":214.96,"text":"“Solar farms are a big target now, because they’re isolated and not well guarded. Thieves can steal hundreds of kilometres of cables in one go,” said Antonia Grey, head of policy and public affairs at the British Metals Recycling Association. The higher copper price meant “you’re seeing incidental, smaller thefts as well”, she said."}],[{"start":234.28,"text":"Criminal gangs are becoming more specialised and strategic, experts said."}],[{"start":null,"text":""}],[{"start":239.16,"text":"In Brazil, copper theft has moved from opportunistic crooks and drug addicts to sophisticated operations linked to major narcotics gangs, according to Carlos Oliveira, a top official in Rio de Janeiro’s civil police."}],[{"start":252.36,"text":"“This has become the target of organised crime, principally drug trafficking,” he said. Perpetrators have technical knowledge and specialist equipment, and black-market scrap yards have relocated to hillside favelas controlled by narcotics traffickers to gain protection from the gangs, he said."}],[{"start":268.22,"text":"“The damage inflicted upon society is much greater than the economic value of the cable itself,” said Oliveira. “[It] affects the critical infrastructure of the state.” Thefts often occur during the night, with thieves stealing anything from a few feet of cabling to more than a kilometre, which can lead to power, phone and internet outages for whole areas."}],[{"start":291.16,"text":"In the UK, 2025 saw a rise of more than 140 per cent in copper thefts from solar and wind farms compared to the year before, much of which was thanks to the emergence of two organised crime groups, according to police data."}],[{"start":305.8,"text":"Beyond copper, thieves were increasingly alive to critical mineral geopolitics, said BSI Consulting and the insurer TT Club in their annual cargo theft report this year."}],[{"start":316.68,"text":"For example, they had started to target rare earth elements — which are essential for sectors from defence to technology but are in short supply — that were being stolen from facilities in China."}],[{"start":327.6,"text":"Authorities and market experts said it was difficult to track where the stolen copper went, but it was often cut into smaller pieces and sent to scrap dealers, after which it in effect became untraceable."}],[{"start":340.04,"text":"Spain’s interior ministry said last year that thieves had stolen more than 65,000 metres of copper cabling from across the country, which had been transported to scrap yards in Madrid."}],[{"start":351,"text":"Thefts have also become a growing issue in France, with metal taken from telecommunications networks as well as the high-speed rail line connecting Paris and London via the Eurostar."}],[{"start":null,"text":""}],[{"start":362,"text":"In the UK, there were 111 delay-causing cable theft incidents across Network Rail’s UK lines in the latest financial year, resulting in 128,252 minutes of train delays and costing £6.8mn, the railway infrastructure group said."}],[{"start":380.2,"text":"As well as better protecting essential infrastructure and swapping copper for fibre in telecoms, experts said one solution was to better regulate and monitor scrap metal markets."}],[{"start":390.24,"text":"A 2013 law for England and Wales banned scrap dealers from paying cash for metal and required them to be licensed with their local authority. Official statistics show a marked drop in metals crimes since then — though experts, including police officials, said the true number of offences was likely to be far higher, in part because only some thefts are reported."}],[{"start":412.08,"text":"Brazil last year began implementing significantly tougher penalties for the theft of electricity and telecoms cables and equipment. Utility company Equatorial Energia began introducing nanotechnology to its copper cables last year, allowing the material to be identified through chemical markers even after being melted down."}],[{"start":431.04,"text":"For Chile, taking down copper theft rings will require better co-operation between domestic and international agencies, officials said."}],[{"start":438.72,"text":"The High Voltage investigation uncovered shell companies and money laundering routes, and Chile is working with Interpol to identify the overseas buyers of the material."}],[{"start":448.32,"text":"“With global demand so high, more copper theft is being perpetrated at an organised level,” said Chile’s Bravo. Those operations required complex planning, financing and logistics networks — things that law enforcement agencies could target, he said, adding: “We have to pursue from all sides.”"}],[{"start":466.28,"text":"Additional reporting by Beatriz Langella in São Paulo"}],[{"start":472.98,"text":""}]],"url":"https://audio.ftcn.net.cn/album/a_1785401764_5019.mp3"}