They stole around 1.5 tonnes of copper from cell towers. Ironically, the criminals were confused… by the blocking of their phones. For these facts, a man and his two sons-in-law were sentenced, Thursday, in Libourne in Gironde, to prison sentences on Thursday. The first, aged 31, received two years in prison, one of which was suspended.
His two accomplices, aged 20 and 18, were sentenced to 18 months’ imprisonment, 12 of which were suspended. The prosecution had requested three years against the oldest, two years for the others.
1,460 tonnes of copper seized
Arrested on Tuesday, the three men were tried immediately before the Libourne criminal court for 34 thefts of copper cables committed in Gironde, Charente-Maritime and Dordogne since August, which caused “significant disruptions” to the network according to the prosecution. . Operators like Orange, SFR and Free were civil parties to the trial.
Analysis of the defendants’ telephone lines made it possible to detect their presence on the scene at the time of the thefts and 1,460 tonnes of copper were seized by investigators from the Libourne gendarmerie research brigade, as well as cutting pliers.
The trio acted gloved and hooded. The cables were first burned to be stripped, then sold to a scrap dealer, with an estimated profit “between 1,800 and 2,000 euros” per person.
“I did this to pay for my license”
“I regret what I did, I didn’t know it could impact so many people,” the 20-year-old defendant, dressed in a military jacket, declared on the stand. A native of Réunion and father of a nine-month-old girl, he had been an installer for two and a half years, installing telephone cells at the top of pylons.
He had no criminal record, unlike the other two: the stepfather had 10 convictions since 2009, mainly for traffic offenses. The youngest had been sentenced to community service for fraud and damage.
“I’m not a bad person, I would like to make up for all the stupid things I’ve done,” assured the father-in-law, refuting being the “leader” of the trio. “I was doing this to pay for my license,” explained the youngest. In France, the gendarmerie reports an “increasing trend” for cable thefts in recent years. However, it is “rare” that such a large quantity can be seized.
