Copper Thieves Strike Openreach’s Network in Cambridgeshire AGAIN

The previous offer of a £20K reward to help catch those responsible for a string of copper cable thefts in rural Cambridgeshire (England) has not been effective, yet. Openreach’s (BT) network in the county has again been hit by the crime, which saw 3.4km of underground cable stolen and broadband disrupted for 3,000 properties.

Since the end of last year we’ve reported on a growing string of attacks against Openreach’s infrastructure in the area (here, here and here), which were aimed at stealing the operator’s copper cable and seem likely to have been committed by an organised gang of criminals. The price of copper remains high and this tends fuels such activity. Sadly, the perpetrators have no regard for the significant harm they cause to locals.

In January 2022 the operator raised the stakes by offering a reward of up to £20,000 for anonymous information given to Crimestoppers (call 0800 555 111 or use the online form), provided it leads to the conviction of those responsible for the recent cable thefts. But sadly, the criminal scum have struck again, this time in the Milton area.

According to the Cambridge Independent, some 3.4km of underground copper cable – said to be “worth thousands of pounds” – was ripped up from sites along the A10 road north of Cambridge, which knocked out broadband and phone services for around 3,000 premises in the area. Sadly, the article doesn’t say precisely when this occurred.

A Spokesperson for Openreach said:

“We are really disappointed that local people in Cambridgeshire have once again bore the brunt of criminal behaviour. In these latest attacks, more than 3,400 metres of our underground cable was stolen, and the network badly damaged. This caused disruption to local broadband services.

Repair work is under way as engineers work tirelessly to replace the cables, repair the damaged infrastructure and connect everyone back up again. Many people should already have seen things return to normal, with engineers set to work through tonight to finish the remaining work.”

Police are currently appealing for witnesses, and new CCTV cameras have also been installed in Milton as a deterrent to help prevent further thefts. Anyone with information about these incidents is urged to contact police via www.cambs.police.uk/report or call 101 quoting Operation Goldjuno. The fact that a specific operation has been setup suggests that local police may have become more pro-active in targetting such thefts in the county.

As we’ve said before, the new optical fibre cables in Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) broadband networks have no value to such thieves, but this doesn’t completely stop the activity because such gangs will sometimes still target those on the mistaken assumption that they might actually be copper. Copper and fibre lines may also share the same duct, thus damage to one can sometimes impact the other.

Sadly, copper telecoms cables remain a common target (examples here, here, here, here, here and here) for organised crime and it seems to be getting worse.