Over-zealous scrap collectors costing state millions of euros
Gangs of thieves have been stripping public property of copper and other metals, according to police sources, who warn that the phenomenon is growing to massive proportions as the gangs increasingly target public property.
The main targets are railway equipment, electricity and telephone cables, and church bells, which are carried off and stripped of metal that is then sold as scrap, costing millions of euros in damages. Authorities also warn that the environmental impact is significant as the looters often burn the plastic insulation of cables and dispose of the parts they cannot use.
Other than the above, along with pipes and metal dumpsters, the police have even received reports regarding the attempted dismemberment of a military tank at a base on the island of Hios, as well as the disappearance of an entire bronze statue of Greek War of Independence hero Theodoros Kolokotronis from a public square in Zefyri, northwest of Athens.
The Municipality of Acharnon has this year alone spent some 10,000 euros on replacing over 200 metal dumpsters stolen by gangs and sold as scrap, while the Athens Water Company (EYDAP) admits that it has spent significant amounts on replacing stolen storm drain grates, electricity meters and even lightning rods from school rooftops.
?We cannot ignore the great economic damage caused, but that isn?t the only issue,? Acharnon Council member Panagiotis Gikas told Kathimerini. ?Just think about the risk to pedestrians and cars if storm drains are left uncovered. At one point all of the storm grates from both sides of Kymis Avenue were gone. The gangs steal manhole covers, cut high-tension wires and strip away lighting rods.?
Gikas is, in fact, due to testify in a trial against a group of Albanian men accused of breaking into a military compound in the area and attempting to saw off a metal roof.
In the neighboring municipality of Ano Liosia, authorities have been forced to install grates with locks in order to protect them from the metal thieves.
?When I took office, there were about 600 storm and sewer grates missing from the streets. We put in new ones and they were also stolen,? said Vassilis Georgiadis, deputy mayor in charge of sanitation. ?You can image the cost to us given that each grate is priced at 125 euros. We had to spend funds in the region of 400,000 euros to replace the stolen grates with ones that lock.?
Georgiadis added that the bronze statue of Kolokotronis, stolen from a square named after the Greek hero, will be replaced with a marble one. He also said that since 2010, metal thieves have broken into at least 100 construction sites and picked them clean.
Churches and monasteries are also popular hunting grounds with the roving groups of metal thieves, who make off with bells, bronze oil lamps and any kind of metal fencing, forcing churches and monasteries to invest large sums of money in security.
Railway?s rich pickings
Officials at the Hellenic Railways Organization (OSE) admit that they are unable to store and protect material that has been left lying around on sections of the railway network that are not in operation, following a recent incident where the engines of retired trains were stolen from a depot in the Peloponnese.
?Unfortunately, we cannot guard every section of the networks that is not in operation and it is impossible to expect the police to be able to either,? said OSE CEO Panagiotis Theofanopoulos.
More recently, another depot in the region was attacked by metal thieves and large numbers of engines were stolen, although authorities have not been able to put a price on the damage. Even though the material could not be used by OSE anymore because it was defunct, the company could have sold it for scrap itself.
The biggest problem, however, is the extensive theft of electricity cables powering the rail network. It is estimated that in the past four years, OSE has been robbed of over 100 kilometers of copper wiring at a cost of 10 million euros.
