Drivers warned as sinister trend continues to plunge Aussie highways into darkness
There has been 86 reported instances of copper theft in Queensland in the last 12 months. The state's Department of Transport and Main Roads (TMR) confirmed to Yahoo News it has been "responding to a series of cable theft incidents across the state that have impacted street lighting and other assets on TMR-controlled roads".
"This financial year, there has been 51 reported instances of theft and cable vandalism in the South Coast region and 35 instances in the Brisbane region. The cost to reinstate these sites is significant, much greater than the value of the copper cable which is being stolen," the TMR spokesperson said.
Major highways affected include the M1, Ipswich Motorway, Centenary Highway, Warrego Highway, Southern Cross Way, Gympie Arterial Road, with cycle paths impacted too.
While copper theft is being felt across the country, the issue is particularly prevalent in Queensland and cost the state a whopping $4.5 million in damages to the electrical network in 2023 alone. According to the Australian Institute of Criminology, the annual cost of metal theft is valued at well over $100 million. Alarmingly, in Queensland the crime has tripled in frequency since 2020.
"We understand the safety and customer impacts caused by these incidents and are committed to reinstating street lighting as quickly as we can," the TMR spokesperson told Yahoo about streets going temporarily dark over the issue.
Roads in Western Australia have also been left in darkness due to copper thieves, with lights remaining out for months along stretches of the Kwinana Freeway, as well as roads in Rockingham, Ravenswood, and infrastructure between Falcon to Dawesville, according to local media reports.
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It's not only transport infrastructure that is being targeted by copper thieves. Copper has also been stolen from vacant homes and enterprising thieves have even dressed up as tradies to steal copper from construction sites and shopping centres.
Burning is a popular method in which thieves are choosing to strip the metal before reselling it for cash, and hotspots for the behaviour are sprouting up across the country.
Patches of burnt bush have been detected across Townsville, with clear signs of metal burning in 52 locations, with melted plastic and copper were found on the ground. Local man Dave Dudley, who alerted authorities to several incidents in May, told Yahoo News as the time it was "pretty disgusting" to come across it.
"Either they go out there and strip it manually, like, run a knife down it to take all the plastic off, or the other easier method is to just sit it in a pile on the ground, and then pour a bit of petrol over it and torch it," he told Yahoo News. "It's burnt, but it's still resaleable."
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