£40,000 of copper stolen in raid

SEVEN tonnes of copper wiring worth more than £40,000 has been stolen from a city building site in a daring raid by thieves trying to cash in on record high prices for the metal.

Police believe a gang of criminals used a lorry and crane to steal the copper wire from a Balfour Beatty construction site on Old Dalkeith Road, where Edinburgh University's flagship Biomedical Research Centre is being built.

A drum of the valuable metal, which was to be used for the 200 million centre's electrical wiring, was loaded on to a lorry during a pre-planned raid which would have taken several hours to carry out.

It is thought the copper wiring could have been missing for days before anyone realised it had been stolen.

Police today admitted the gang could even have wandered on to the building site in broad daylight and lifted the metal while other construction workers were about.

Building sites across the Capital are now at greater risk of theft as the price of copper hits a record high because of huge demand from Asia. City scrap dealers say there has been an explosion in the price of copper in the last six weeks and that they would expect the stolen metal to eventually end up in China.

The copper wiring was left unattended at a remote end of the site, but police are certain that the theft of such a heavy load did not go unnoticed.

A Lothian and Borders Police spokeswoman today also warned construction companies to be more aware when leaving valuable metals unattended on building sites.

She said: "Companies need to be aware of the difficulties of storing material on site. They often have quite valuable equipment there and it is usually very hard to secure. We are appealing to anyone who saw any unusual activity between May 13 and 15 to contact us."

A spokesman for R M Supplies, which deals in ferrous and non ferrous metals, said the historic high in copper prices made it a lucrative catch.

He said: "An increase in demand from Asia, primarily China, has been the driving force behind this rise. Most of the metal we currently receive ends up being exported to East Asia.

"Over the past six weeks the price has been coming on in leaps and bounds."

A spokesman for Balfour Beatty said that although the cable will have to be replaced, the theft will not cause a delay in construction.

He said: "As we are ahead in construction, this incident will not change the completion date.

"Sometime between lunchtime on May 13 and the morning of May 15, a substantial drum of cable located on the above site was allegedly removed without authorisation.

"The cable drum was on site when building work was concluded for the day on May 13 and the site was made secure.

"The cable was reported missing on the morning of May 15, when site operations recommenced.

"The cable drums, weighing approximately seven tonnes, were removed from the remote end of the site, around half a kilometre from the site compound and Old Dalkeith Road."

The new Biomedical Research centre, which is being constructed on the university's Easter Bush estate, will focus on animal welfare and diseases transmitted between animals and humans.