Copper wire thief trap nabs suspect on snowmobile

A sting operation by telecommunications company Bell led to the nighttime arrest of a suspect on a snowmobile after copper wiring was stolen from poles around Gracefield, Que.

The alleged theft of about 200 metres of line happened on the night of Feb. 25. Mario Barbieri, director of operations of field services for Bell, said Thursday that technicians from the company noticed the missing cable as well as damage to four Hydro-Québec poles. 

Due to the damage, 124 Bell customers lost service for more than two days.

While Bell technicians were making repairs, they noticed something else.

"The cables that had been actually taken down and stolen were actually hidden close by and [the technicians] noticed the location of where those cables were," Barbieri said.

Barbieri said after discovering the hidden pile of cables, they had the idea of setting a surveillance trap to catch the thieves should they return.

The company stationed a security guard in the area, who waited there four days until they saw someone near the stash and called police.

That suspect, a 54-year-old from Gracefield, was arrested by the Sûreté du Québec (SQ) while they were on their snowmobile.

Marc Tessier, an SQ spokesperson, told Radio-Canada the suspect had the copper wires in a sled. They were charged with possession of stolen goods, possession of burglary tools and breaching a probation order.

Two other suspects, a 35-year-old from Gatineau and a 39-year-old from Plaisance, Que. were arrested the next day in Kazabazua, Que.

The bigger problem

Barbieri said since 2022, the company has seen cable stolen from its national network nearly 2,000 times.

"With price of copper going up, we see some of those incidents also increasing," he said.

Copper wire is typically used in traditional telephone and DSL internet lines.

In 2024, the Canadian Telecommunications Association said the number of copper wire theft incidents grew by about 200 per cent annually from 2021 to 2023.