Special team to target metal theft in London
10:43am Tuesday 20th December 2011 in Where I Live
Carmella Aggozino with a picture of the stolen statue
A special unit has been set up to tackle the multi-million pound metal theft problem in London.
The Metropolitan Police estimates metal theft is costing the economy £700m a year and in response has launched the Waste and Metal Theft Taskforce.
Based in Bexley, the team includes experts from BT and the local authority's environmental crime unit.
It follows the conclusion of Operation Ferrous, the latest Met-wide operation to tackle the problem of metal theft.
Thieves have made off with cable, drain covers, lift panels from housing estates and memorial plaques, children's playground slides, fire escape stairs and even English Heritage buildings.
In Croydon, 66 brass plaques were stolen from the crematorium in September.
On September 28 thieves stole 14 brass plaques from Carshalton War memorial. They featured the names of 240 people from the area killed in battle.
A £10,000 bronze statue was stolen from a man’s grave at London Road Cemetery, Mitcham, last week, leaving his widow in tears and ruining the family Christmas.
The statue of the Divine Mercy was a memorial to father-of-two Peter Aggozino, who died of an aneurysm aged just 35 in 2000.
Chief Superintendent David Chinchen, the MPS lead for Operation Ferrous, said: "Metal theft is not a victimless crime but is causing increasing misery to commuters and householders, and costing millions to the rail industry and local authorities.
"Our officers will employ a wide range of robust tactics and we plan to run regular operations to crack down on those seeking to profit, and who end disrupting other's lives and putting their own at risk."
The Bexley team will advise other boroughs in London, particularly areas with high numbers of scrap metal yards, which are often hit.
Although BT and electricity companies mark all their cables, only certain yards are authorised to receive them.
As the industry is run entirely on cash, transactions are hard for police to trace back and as metals are often distributed for sale via 'middlemen', the individuals committing the original crimes can be difficult to track down.
There is evidence organised criminal networks are moving into the thriving illegal trade in stolen metal.
Offenders are also getting increasingly adept - police have found adapted ladders, tools, and even vans that have specially adapted trapdoors to winch up a manhole cover as they drive over it without being observed.
Copper is not the only sought-after metal thieves are trading in - rising numbers of catalytic converters are being stolen from vehicles due to the lucrative platinum they contain.
