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Army veteran to help police capture copper theives

December 3, 2009 | Leave a Comment

HE served in the first Gulf War, but now retired army officer Richard Lungmuss plans to use his experience to help police capture drug addicts stealing copper from railway lines.

Network Rail’s route director has made it a personal mission to see train delays reduced and says catching the thieves would be any “easy gain”.

Mr Lungmuss, a former Royal Artillery lieutenant colonel who served in the first Gulf War, believes current efforts to catch thieves are not having a big enough impact.

And now he is hoping to hide camouflaged security staff at known hotspots, including parts of the North East, and catch thieves red-handed. Copper thefts cost Network Rail £6.3m in the past financial year, with a further £2m bill for keeping lines secure.

The rise in thefts was blamed on the spiraling price of copper and increased demand from China, although that market has largely disappeared recently due to the economic downturn. However, much of the signal wire thefts are in large enough quantities to convince police it has been stolen for commercial uses.

But Mr Lungmuss said there is another, smaller side to the theft problem.

“When we look at the sections of line being taken it is sometimes very small, maybe 10 metres or less.

“I don’t think it would make sense for anyone wanting to make a lot of money out of it to do that. I think in some areas it is just local drug addicts who are passing it on the scrap yards.

“This is just my opinion of what is causing the problem, but if we work with British Transport Police, we can use a team that is formed of ex-soldiers using surveillance techniques learned in Northern Ireland and provide detailed evidence for catching these people.”

He added: “What we need is to look again at what we are doing to catch them. I know what I would like to do is use some of skills I learned elsewhere and have men in waiting at the places we know are being targeted. They would wait in the bushes ready to catch those involved and provide real evidence for successful prosecutions.”

Mr Lungmuss spent 22 years in the army, including operations in Bosnia and Northern Ireland. He worked with the Commando Regiment, tasked with safeguarding Iraqi Kurds before leaving the army in 1999.

His plans have been backed by Tyne Bridge MP David Clelland, who sits on the House of Commons transport select committee. He said: “It does sound like an interesting idea. I’m all for clamping down hard on this problem, though perhaps not going as far as having snipers waiting in the bushes, but something in between.”

Since April last year, the police have investigated almost 1,000 thefts of copper cable from the region’s railways.

The thefts are have caused thousands of hours of delays on the East Coast Main Line.


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