Thieves in the U.K. are stealing sculptures, copper cabling from railroad tracks, church roofs, bells, manhole covers and even hospital equipment as demand increases for metals on the world’s commodities markets. At least two people a month are killed trying to take copper power cables, railway scrap metal and lead from church roofs, according to London’s Metropolitan Police, which formed a special unit last month to tackle the crime. With copper prices forecast to jump this year, police said reported thefts are at a record, as are insurance claims by churches. “Britain is under attack from metal thieves,” Dyan Crowther, Network Rail Ltd.’s director of operational services, said by e-mail. “The only way to significantly reduce metal crime is to take away the illegal market.” Scrap metal is a 5 billion-pound ($7.7 billion) industry in the U.K. and the government is cracking down on the proliferation of illegal trading by requiring sellers to undergo identity checks and banning cash transactions, Home Office Minister Lord Henley said yesterday.
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