Scrap gangs in limelight for damage to railway
The activities of scrap rackets that target large-scale infrastructure, including the rail network, in search of precious metals like copper has been thrust back into the limelight following revelations that successive thefts compounded the problem of poor maintenance in the railway company’s failure to prevent last week’s deadly train collision in central Greece.
In 2019, for example, service had to be temporarily halted on the Lianokladi-Domokos route in Fthiotida after scrap gangs stripped large quantities of electrical wires. The Hellenic Railways Organization (OSE) had also filed a complaint with the police over extensive damages to its network in Volos.
In another major case in 2017, 30 people were accused of running a racket that had stripped more than 120 kilometers worth of cables from the rail network, causing damages of 15 million euros. The investigation also revealed that several OSE employees were involved with the racket, giving it access to warehouses where the company kept surplus or scrap equipment.
The problem is so widespread, in fact, that it had been reported to Parliament a few years ago, in a document noting that these gangs have acquired a high level of expertise and are able to avoid detection.
