WITH the price of scrap metal gone through the roof, a county farmer was targeted when thieves attempted to remove a loading bucket from his tractor.
The incident occurred at a Newcastle West farm, when the owner came home to find an unfamiliar van parked by his gate. “A few lads were attempting to take a metal loading bucket off the tractor,” Cllr Damien Riedy told the Limerick Post.
“They will take anything because of the price they get for metal from scrap dealers”.
This was one of several incidents in which farms were targeted.
Cllr Reidy added that copper cylinders are continuing to be stolen from vacant houses.
“Several have been ransacked, with copper and tanks taken.
“Next door neighbours have been waking up to find the copper being ripped from the unoccupied houses near them.
“While the damage would be considerably worse if the water supply had not been switched off at the mains, value depreciates considerably once boilers and cylinders are removed”.
Recently, thieves ransacked Ballyneety Golf Club and Two Mile Inn hotel in separate incidents, stealing copper from walls and attics, as well as water tanks, causing considerable water damage.
Copper cylinders have also been stolen from occupied houses around Limerick.
A spokesperson for an insurance company said the repairs could cost between €5,000 and €70,000.
“It depends on the extent of the flood damage.
“It could be so bad that walls and floors may need to come down, damage could be caused to electrics and contents destroyed”.
A representative of the Chief Superintendent’s office at Henry Street Garda Station revealed to the Limerick Post that copper was continuing to be targeted.
“In August, lines were cut from telephone poles in Ballysheedy and 150 metres of copper wire were taken.
“The following day two rolls of underground, heavy duty cable were stolen from a site in Clarina.
“The reality is, it is more prevalent of late because of the price paid for the metal”.
Last week 500 metres of copper were stolen from a store room at the CIE freight yard on Roxboro Road.
