Train ‘saboteurs’ arrested
Police in Thessaloniki yesterday arrested two men believed to be behind the theft of electrical cable from tracks belonging to the Hellenic Railways Organization (OSE), causing disruptions to schedules and costing the cash-strapped company hundreds of thousands of euros in repairs.
The two Bulgarian nationals, aged 35 and 37, were picked up by officers after striking the same point of the railway from Thessaloniki to the suburb of Sindos for the third time in a row late on Wednesday night.
Investigators believe that the suspects stole hundreds of meters of electrical cable in order to strip it of copper which would then be sold on the black market for a hefty price. According to police reports, OSE has been hit by cable thieves around 60 times since the start of the year, although the damage suffered in the latest spate of incidents was among the biggest yet.
It is estimated that OSE has been robbed of over 20 tons of copper over the past few years by different gangs, suffering damage valued at around 10 million euros in the process.
