Copper thieves arrested in Karlsbad - company owners beat back!

Copper thieves arrested in Karlsbad - company owners beat back!

In the tranquil community of Karlsbad-Otersbach, there was an incident on Sunday, which shows that copper theft is also a serious problem in this country. Around 4 p.m., three suspects drove to a company premises on Industriestraße with a small van and went to unload larger amounts of copper cables. However, this turned out to be a very bad idea, because the attentive company owners were dealing with the project by blocking the exit with another vehicle, such as the Baden latest news Report .

The perpetrators, including two men aged 21 and 28, and a 23-year-old woman, were then arrested by the police. Already on Monday, a judge issued arrest warrants against all three people who are now in custody at the request of the Karlsruhe public prosecutor's office. The investigation into the attempted band theft is still ongoing, so that the police are working intensively on clarifying the case, the Pforzheimer Zeitung Next .

The background of the copper robbery

copper is not only very popular in Karlsbad, but is also very popular with thieves. According to a current analysis by DW in 2022 recorded damage of around 6.6 million euros by copper theft. This year alone, over 2644 trains were affected by these crime acts, which led to more than 700 hours of train delays. The numbers illustrate how urgently this topic has become for the infrastructure, while copper is enormously in demand due to its electrical conductivity and the increased need, especially as part of the energy transition.

Future of copper is faced with a massive increase, since between five and nine tons of copper per megawatt are required for the production of wind energy projects. Experts estimate that a need of around 700 million tons of copper will arise in the next thirty years. This means that the risk of thefts on private and commercial objects also increases massively, since the inhibition threshold is reduced to get to this valuable metal.

The sad reality shows that stolen copper cables are often sold abroad, since control of the goods movements in this country does not seem to be sufficient. This not only makes it more difficult for the investigators to grasp the thieves, but also ensures constant questions about suitable security measures in those affected.

The arrests in Karlsbad-Oldersbach are a clear signal against growing crime in the field of copper theft. Only hope that such incidents will occur less frequently in the future and that the perpetrators refrain from their criminal projects.