Crime gang in Selby cable raid (From York Press)

Crime gang in Selby cable raid

8:55am Friday 3rd September 2010 in

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ORGANISED criminals are believed to be responsible for a spate of copper cable thefts in Selby district and police say it is only a matter of time before someone dies.

Thieves have stolen thousands of pounds and hundreds of metres of live copper cable in the past week, leaving members of the public at risk of being electrocuted and plunging households into darkness.

Selby Police have now called on local residents to report suspicious behaviour before someone dies.

Acting chief inspector Chris Witty said: “People are stealing copper cabling that is going into people’s houses and they are leaving live wires exposed.

“We need the public to help us with this before someone gets hurt. Someone will end up getting killed, and that could be an innocent member of the public or an offender, but either way we don’t want it to happen.

“This is big business with big money, and it’s far more organised than just a couple of local thieves going and pinching a bit of copper.”

He said copper cable had been stolen from Whitley, Burton Salmon and Monk Fryston. And he said many of those cables carried 33,000 volts of electricity, more than enough to kill someone.

A spokeswoman for CE Electric said the theft in Whitley, on August 25, had resulted in 183 households been cut off from 10am to 3pm.

The theft in Burton Salmon on August 24 had left 1,635 homes without power in the village and a further 183 homes powerless in Hirst Courtney.

She said Monk Fryston had seen repeated cabling thefts.