TWO metal thieves have been arrested in Copenhagen as they tried to sell on DNA-marked copper cable to a scrapyard. The resulting action has been caught on camera by a Danish TV news crew.
The arrests were made by police and filmed by news channel TV2 as the thieves tried to offload the cable they had stolen from a Danish construction company. The thieves had stolen cable worth approximately 400,000 kroner (over £40,000) from MT Højgaard in Alberton.
Police say it was the use of the invisible SelectaDNA Trace solution to mark the cable that ultimately trapped the criminals. MT Højgaard uses SelectaDNA to mark its cable with a unique DNA code that is only visible under UV light. The DNA code is registered to MT Højgaard, which means that it can be traced back to the company if it is stolen and recovered by police.
Cable theft is a major problem for Danish companies, with approximately 600 million kroner (more than £63m) worth of cable stolen every year.
Jørgen Jensen, police commissioner of Copenhagen West Regional Police, said: “We are very happy. We do not usually have success with this sort of crime but we are really pleased on this occasion as we were able to prove that the marked cable in the scrapyard originated from MT Højgaard.”
Esper Christophersen, divisional director of MT Højgaard, said: “When we get the cable back we can resume our work relatively quickly, resulting in minimal disruption to the company.”
Watch film footage of the arrest here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZUirpAyDJa8
For further information and images contact: Jessica Farrugia, Senior Marketing Manager for Selectamark.
Phone: +44(0)1689 487829
Email:
[email protected]
Twitter: @selectadna
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