Hang Onto Your Nuts..........

[Maejo Man]

The alarming rate of thefts of utilities items in Bangkok seems to have spread to Chiangmai. Only the other day I noticed that two of the stop signs just up the road had been ripped out of the ground.

WHERE'S MY WATER METER?

Thieves are taking everything from power pylons to electric cables and water meters

Story by POST REPORTERS

The recent collapse of a 60-metre high, 500,000-volt power pylon in Bangkok's Nong Chok district after thieves removed most of the bolts and steel lattices holding it up has highlighted the fact that thefts from public utilities are too serious a problem to be ignored.

The rising number of thefts have alarmed the public. The collapsed pylon, for example, was part of the country's high voltage transmission network. Repairs will take about five days and cost more than 10 million baht, according to the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand (Egat).

In fact, the theft of public utilities is something many people are well acquainted with. Many have woken up in the morning and found the water meters at their houses have disappeared.

Water meter thefts have been frequently reported in Bangkok's Lat Phrao district. Each year up to 5,000 household water meters have been stolen in the district.

Tap water meters are usually made of brass and weigh between 1.1 and 1.6 kilogrammes. Each of them can fetch up to 120 baht per kilogramme if sold to scrap metal shops.

Police arrange water meters seized in a raid at a scrap metal shop. Brass meters, power lines, telephone wires, shaft lids and road signs are among the most frequently stolen public utilities. — SOMCHAI POOMLARD

A water meter thief confessed after being arrested by police that he managed to steal more than 50 in one night and earned about 6,000 baht from selling them.

Nationwide, damage caused by water meter theft has amounted to several billion baht a year.

In a bid to prevent such thefts, home owners in certain areas and local waterworks authority staff have covered the water meters with cement, leaving only a small slot for staff to read the numbers on the meters.

Another public utility facility considered a lucrative item for thieves is the covers on sewage shafts. The shaft lids weigh about 80 kilogrammes each. Scrap metal shops pay about 900 baht for each of them.

In Pattaya during the first half of 2007 city officials found that 100 sewage shaft lids had disappeared.

Another popular item among utility thieves is electricity wire.

A kilogramme of naked copper wire can be sold for 220 baht, while the wire's plastic cover can fetch four baht per kilogramme.

In the latest case of electricity wire theft, all the electricity wires were stolen from three Buddhist temples in Ayutthaya's Uthai district during the past month.

At Wat Sampundit, one of the three temples, monk Phra Sayan Nanthako said the temple has no budget to replace the stolen wires.

They now use small wires to transmit electricity from the temple's meter, even though they are aware that the small wires put the temple at high risk of electrical short circuits.

Telephone wires are even more popular with thieves because they are priced higher.

In the Klong Thom area in Bangkok where stolen public utility parts can be found alongside commercial electricity products, telephone wires can be sold to vendors in the area for 250 baht per kilogramme.

Late last year, a thief arrested in Tak managed to steal the whole telephone transmission pylon along with its attached transmission devices worth a total of five million baht.

TOT Corp estimates the theft of telephone wire has cost it 120 million baht per year.

Egat has reported that since the beginning of last year, more than 3,000 pieces of its power pylons and electricity poles have gone missing.

That's not all. Scrap metal shop operators said other public utility items offered for sale at their shops include street signposts and overpass handrails made of aluminium and stainless steel.

Police said most public utility thieves in the past were scavengers. But now, some delinquent teenagers, particularly drug abusers, have jumped on the bandwagon.

Besides Klong Thom, other areas where thieves sell their loot are a market behind the Defence Ministry headquarters and scrap metal shops in Bangkok's outskirts, especially Buddhamonthon and Lam Lukka.

Major scrap metal shops are now avoiding buying the stolen goods.

Rungnapa Khunsongkhram, the owner of the Ram Inthra branch of Wongpanit, the country's major recycling business chain, said her shop would not buy items that are obviously public utility parts such as tap water meters, sewage shaft lids or signposts.

However, sometimes it is difficult to identify whether an item is stolen, she said. Such items were, for example, copper wires.

Ms Rungnapa said she is glad police go through her shop's scrap purchasing records every month as they can help her examine if her shop has mistakenly purchased any illegal items.

"I don't want people to think all scrap metal shops buy these stolen items," she said.

[FolkGuitar]

The alarming rate of thefts of utilities items in Bangkok seems to have spread to Chiangmai. Only the other day I noticed that two of the stop signs just up the road had been ripped out of the ground.

Maybe they left on their own accord, peeved at constantly being ignored?

[BigSnake]

Yep, not only in Bkk or CM but country wide, Lost of electric for hours, cause by a PETTY thief.

[SamSipEt]

Surely this problem is global. I originate from the UK where theft of lead roofs from churches has been going on for decades. No easy answer - it has to be up to the scrap merchants to avoid buying the obvious but the not so obvious, as mentioned in the first post is not so easy to control.

[sceadugenga]

Surely this problem is global. I originate from the UK where theft of lead roofs from churches has been going on for decades. No easy answer - it has to be up to the scrap merchants to avoid buying the obvious but the not so obvious, as mentioned in the first post is not so easy to control.

Most certainly global, the price of copper scrap has risen 100% per year for the last five years.

Copper thefts have actually shut down rail systems in Australia.

The kids have gotta eat!