Copper Thieves

The Seattle Times:

Global copper prices have more than doubled during the past three years and thieves are looking everywhere for the hot commodity. Increasingly utilities across the nation have been the target of these thieves...

There have been some arrests related to the thefts, but none of the copper wire has been recovered.

Thieves have taken the copper wire from storage grounds, the back of trucks and active high-voltage lines. Two weeks ago, a thief stole several thousand feet of copper wire from a live line taken down during the snowstorm...