The price of copper on the black market has skyrocketed and, in turn, thefts of this material have increased, especially on railway infrastructure. In the last quarter, between September and November, 46 copper cable thefts were reported in Catalonia. One every two days on average.
The thefts are concentrated around Barcelona, where the volume of this type of crime has multiplied by six compared to the cases that were accounted for in the same period of 2022, according to data from the Administrator of Railway Infrastructures ( Adif). An upward trend has intensified since the beginning of the year, around the capital but also in Tarragona, where it has doubled. In Catalonia as a whole, 135 thefts of this material were recorded in January compared to the 70 that occurred in all of 2022.
The problem behind each of these thefts is the consequences they entail. Each of these thefts causes the railway signaling system to go haywire and causes incidents, which end up suffering the users of Rodalies. The passage of trains through the signals, which is normally done automatically, must be authorized manually by the Traffic Control Center, with the corresponding increases in journey time and the accumulation of delays.
Copper theft peaked a decade ago, during the worst years of the economic crisis, when it became a major problem, until it became a residual problem. The resurgence is directly related to the skyrocketing price, which has soared past $9,000 a tonne on the London Metal Exchange. Up to four euros per kilo of copper are paid to the hardware stores that buy turning a blind eye to the dubious origin of the material. This has encouraged thieves to go after an increasingly scarce product, but with more demand. In fact, experts predict that the price of copper will continue to rise due to the current geopolitical situation.
Although in the previous copper theft boom, the profiles of organized groups, often family members, that attacked railway facilities at night and ripped up the wiring flourished, the phenomenon has changed. Now there are those who take advantage of the darkness, but they also have no objections to acting in broad daylight, especially in the areas furthest from the urban environment and surrounded by forest.
Nor is it a coincidence that the complaints presented by Adif this year alone coincide with points on the railway network under construction. The majority of thefts are concentrated around Castellbisbal, where an important transformation is taking place associated with the Mediterranean corridor. A few kilometers up, a few kilometers down, on the route of the Vilafranca line, most of the thefts of the last month have been concentrated. In the southern metropolitan police region, there are more thefts and more shootings, both in absolute numbers and in percentage terms.
Another hotspot is the Vallès Oriental area, where track duplication works are being carried out on the R3 line. It is where there has been one of the last major strikes, specifically last week in Figaró, which uprooted the fiber optic cables and left the sections between this municipality and Puigcerdà unusable for a few hours. The stretch between Terrassa and Manresa, where the Ertms security system is installed, has also been one of the favorite spots for looters of a metal that is once again coveted. In contrast, Ferrocarrils de la Generalitat (FGC) have only had nine thefts this year.
Some of the thefts of copper in points of large accumulation of material, which was also stored in places of difficult access, have led to suspicion of the possibility of some complicity with the staff of the companies subcontracted to do these works. In fact, it is one of the lines of investigation with which the Mossos d'Esquadra work in some of the robberies that have been reported.
At some point, Adif and Renfe have also assessed the possibility that some of the thefts could be attributed to sabotage. The cut on the cable made in a clearly professional manner invites to think about this, although it is an accusation that today is only based on suspicion and for which there is no evidence.
As a result of the alarming increase in thefts, those responsible for the railway infrastructure - it affects Rodalies, but also freight trains and occasionally the high-speed line - say that they have strengthened surveillance patrols and collaboration with the Mossos d 'Esquadra, which, in turn, will change the way they deal with the problem. Until now, the various investigations were in the hands of the regional units. Starting next year, the central heritage area of the criminal investigation division will centralize investigations to have a cross-sectional view of what is happening and try to respond more effectively to practically daily incidents.
In fact, the growing problem does not only affect trains. The new copper thieves, in addition to destroying railway installations and telephone wiring, even operate in sewage treatment plants. Last week, Agbar's security officials met with Catalan police commanders to ask them for help in dealing with the situation. This week, the managers of Movistar will meet with the Minister of the Interior, Joan Ignasi Elena, following the incessant theft of fiber optic cabling.
