Because it affects companies and not private citizens, copper theft usually slips beneath the radar of known nefarious pursuits. But trust us, copper theft in this country is an epidemic. The main sources are electrical or transmission wires and hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of that has been stolen, particularly over the past two years.
The primary target is BEL and that company’s vast stores of wiring, but high-end housing developments which run their electrical cables underground have also been affected as have television operators, namely Channels 5 and 7. It is stolen by enterprising thieves who sell the copper for as much as four dollars a pound to licensed scrap metal dealers, who then export it legally to Guatemala where it fetches a premium price– more valuable than aluminium or iron.
It’s a lucrative trade and up until now, it had been a legal one. But not anymore. As of August 15th the government of Belize has suspended the exportation of copper. The suspension will remain in effect until a multi agency team including, Police, Environment and Customs officers can come up with a way to clean up the trade. One step towards that has been made, with the number of licensed scrap metal dealers having been cut down to from 70 to 24.
