Serial manhole thief arrested in Palermo: used a crowbar to steal and resell them

Last Updated: October 10, 2024

Ladro seriale di tombini arrestato a Palermo: li estraeva con il levachiodi per poi rivenderli

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The municipal police officers of Palermo arrested a serial thief of manhole covers. He is a 39-year-old unemployed man from Monreale, caught by the judicial police officers while selling stolen construction equipment to a receiver. The man is also responsible for the theft of numerous manhole covers taken from Viale Regione Siciliana. He has been arrested and, pending trial, has the obligation to sign in three days a week.

“It was not a simple operation – commented Commander Angelo Colucciello – because after the report on the stolen manhole covers in Viale Regione Siciliana, received in the early days of September, we had to acquire all the surveillance camera images of the area. Only in this way we were able to identify the responsible person and reconstruct what happened. The man, in a gray Hyundai, skillfully used a nail puller to lift the manhole covers, leaving the door open, and loaded them into the car, driving off at high speed.”

The mayor and the councilor also commented on the arrest. “Our praise and thanks go to the municipal police command – said Mayor Roberto Lagalla and municipal police councilor Dario Falzone – for the brilliant investigation conducted, which led to the identification of the person responsible who caused considerable damage to some streets of the city, as documented by the press. It is yet another demonstration of how the commitment of municipal police officers, combined with the enhancement of the city’s surveillance systems, bears fruit and sends an important message to those who think they can act illegally undisturbed.”

According to the investigators’ reconstruction, who had been tracking the man for over a month, there are about twenty iron manhole covers found and intended to be resold on the black market (although about a hundred are still missing), as well as a series of metal tools, iron ladders, and copper cables, which the suspect used to steal on weekends, entering construction sites when surveillance was lacking.