New street crime: Thieves stealing manhole covers

neocone · Heavy Crude Joined: Sep 23, 2006 Posts: 250

Hang'em by the neck... same if they steal a horse.

3rensho · Tar Sands Joined: Apr 04, 2005 Posts: 86

This is nothing new. Manhole covers have long been a target for thieves in poorer countries. If it has value as scrap it will be stolen.

neocone · Heavy Crude Joined: Sep 23, 2006 Posts: 250

My point exactly... what is offered for free in our "rich" societies will soon be plundered. Try get a free meal at a food bank or see manhole in Mexico or Somalia... In Africa they even steal tiles from the walls of abandoned buildings, and what little is thrown away in dumps is meticulously recovered by slums dwellers.

No need for recycling or reuse there... and what they are at will be here soon, give it 5 years.

SILENTTODD

I do admire the Koran's solution to this problem. Start cutting off their hands!
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Skeptical scrutiny in both Science and Religion is the means by which deep thoughts are winnowed from deep nonsense-Carl Sagan

Golgo13 · Heavy Crude Joined: Dec 13, 2004 Posts: 228

Where are they taking these covers to sell them? They've got to know they're stolen.

ohanian · Light Sweet Crude Joined: Oct 17, 2004 Posts: 1143

The answer is obvious.
Make manhole covers out of
radioactive materials.

idiom

Because Radioactive materials have a lower black market price? Or so that you can track them?

GASMON

Not just manhole covers, ANYTHING metal that can be removed.

Big problem in UK with thieves stealing signal cable from railways, even the 25,000 Volt overhead power wire. Also lead from roofs, copper pipes & tanks, etc.

Do a google earth on Liverpool Docks. Just to the north of the city centre are 2 mountains, one black, one brown. The black is coal, imported from Columbia. The Brown is scrap for export to China. Local scrapyards just receive it & send it straight to Liverpool, BIG, BIG business. Not just scrap steel & iron, any metal, you name it China wants it.

Gasmon
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Been there, Done that, Bought the tee-shirt

strider3700

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shame on us, doomed from the start
god have mercy on our dirty little hearts

frankthetank

They should just make them out of a plank of wood.
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Clothing should be optional.

big_rc

The worst part about this whole mess is that the thieves can only get about $10 for the manhole. Can you imagine lugging around a freaking 200 lb hunk of metal and only getting $10 for it?
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Simon's Law: Everything put together falls apart sooner or later.

I don't think of all the misery, but of all the beauty that still remains.--Anne Frank

eastbay

Hermes

I knew some guys back in San Francisco that had their manhole stolen every saturday night.
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emersonbiggins

SILENTTODD