Taranto: theft of half a ton of copper cables, arrests. Cerignola: 27 manhole covers stolen in three days

Below is a statement released by the police:

Yesterday night, the Carabinieri of the Taranto Operations Section arrested, in flagrante delicto, 5 people, allegedly responsible for the aggravated theft of approximately five quintals of copper electrical cables, equal to a length of more than 250 metres.

In particular, the soldiers of the Carabinieri, engaged every day 24 hours a day in preventive services for the control of the territory, having already received news of some previous copper thefts, perpetrated in the industrial area of ​​the Ionian capital, having noticed, in the middle of the night, two vehicles stopped on the side of the road, they proceeded to check them.

The subsequent and careful search made it possible to find very long sections of copper electrical cables with plastic sheaths, still dirty with earth. Consequent investigations, consisting of witness interviews and verification of the presence of video surveillance systems in the area, made it possible to verify that these cables would have been stolen shortly before from a system present there, as they were compatible in terms of section and color of the sheath. , to those missing.

The arrested people, aged between 23 and 44 and all from Taranto, would have used, to transport the stolen goods, a handmade trolley, found not far away and were in possession of three bags with tools of all kinds inside, for section the cables so that they can be removed.

Those arrested, without prejudice to the presumption of innocence until a final sentence, upon order of the Judicial Authority, were taken to their homes under house arrest. The stolen goods were seized, so that they could be returned to those entitled to them as soon as possible.

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Below is a press release issued by the Municipality of Cerignola:

As many as 27 cast iron manhole covers stolen in just 72 hours, including in the city’s main streets, a phenomenon that has been growing rapidly in recent days.

The main risk associated with these thefts is the possibility of falling, especially for the little ones, into the sewer pipes, which in some sections are more than 3 meters deep, and can represent a danger for the transit of vehicles.

Acquedotto Pugliese has already intervened on site and will continue to intervene in the next few hours, to restore the discovered manholes as soon as possible.

“This is a new and unexpected phenomenon. We will try to combat the phenomenon by collaborating with the local police forces. For this reason, in fact, I have already personally spoken to the manager of the local police station. In the meantime, I invite you to pay attention, especially for motorists but also for pedestrians, especially children, who are at serious risk of falling. We hope that common sense prevails and that the phenomenon ends as soon as possible, as these are modest thefts, which only cause inconvenience and danger to public safety.” Comments by the Councilor for Security, Teresa Cicolella.

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Below is a press release released by Ferrovie Nord Barese:

Sixteen thefts of copper cables in the last 50 days, in some cases even twice in the same day with very serious repercussions on railway traffic: this is the complaint that Ferrotramviaria has brought to the attention of the Prefecture of Bari, the Police Headquarters of the capital, the Police railway and of course also of the Puglia Region. Three of these thefts have occurred in the last three days, one of which occurred this morning. Compromised train movement is inevitable. In three days (21 May, 22 May and 15 June) two thefts were recorded several hours apart but on the same day. At night as well as during daylight hours.

This morning’s theft also concerned the signaling systems in the Fesca area, exactly as in all the events of the month of June, from Thursday 13th onwards, after a “pause” phase compared to the episodes recorded in May.

In all cases, the work to restore the connection began immediately even though it was in fact impossible to restore the service to full capacity in a short period of time.

“The repercussions on the railway service appear to be burdensome and costly – states the general director Massimo Nitti –; the episodes were initially recorded on the Bitonto-Terlizzi route, while in this phase they were all in the Fesca San Girolamo square, sometimes in the tunnel. It goes without saying that the consequences weigh enormously on the quality of the service provided, but also on the lives of travellers, who find themselves facing severe delays and inevitable cancellations of trips. Furthermore, with repercussions on the railway connection to the ‘Karol Wojtyla’ international airport, in a period of the year in which there is already a strong increase in travellers”.

Ferrotramviaria counts on the help of the institutions: “We need the help of the competent authorities – concludes the engineer. Nitti – also to avoid compromising the image of Puglia at the dawn of the summer season and therefore of the arrival of hundreds of miles of tourists. In addition, of course, to our regular travellers, who should not be forgotten and who do not deserve to remain victims of these criminal events.”

The economic damage to the Company is yet to be quantified, all incidents have been reported to the competent authorities.