Thieves posed as firemen
July 10, 2008 - 11:54 am
Thieves in Romania pretended to be firemen and stole five tonnes of metal from a steel plant outside Galati in Eastern Romania.
They told people there that a blaze had broken out and while some of them checked for signs of fire the rest loaded the truck with steel worth £15,000 on the scrap metal black market.
Thieves didn´t get an happy ending because police stopped their fire engine after reports that it had been stolen from the local fire brigade.
High demand for steel in China and India caused the price on metal to rise, causing huge outbreak of scrap thefts all over Europe.
Thieves are stealing lead from church roofs, railway tracks, cables and even bronze statues.
