Millions in losses

Illegal trade in power lines uncovered

Conductive copper has been highly sought after by thieves for years. The police estimate the price of good quality non-ferrous metal on the market at six euros per kilo.(Bild: Andi Schiel)

The business with stolen non-ferrous metal is flourishing! Copper, aluminum and the like are very popular on the international black market. Professional criminals who had shipped their loot to Hungary have now been tracked down by investigators.

Investigations into non-ferrous metal thieves have been going on for years. Just one day after officers in Nickelsdorf arrested five Romanians with almost a ton of stolen copper cables, three Hungarian perpetrators were caught. The police caught the gang boss (27) and two 19-year-old accomplices on a building site in the Eisenstadt district when they had already loaded 70 aluminum plates into a van. End of the line!