Piles of pipe at a salvage yard in Marshalltown. RCMP loaded up six truckloads as evidence. Annapolis RCMP/Const. Dale Guy photo
Audacious thieves steal small fortune in steel
Enterprising and hard working might best describe perpetrators of a theft of as much as 1.8 kilometres—more than a mile—of steel pipes.
The pipes were left on the former railed between Clementsvale Road and Cornwallis Park and it was a complaint about noisy night work that led to discovery of the theft.
The pipe was lying on the ground after a replacement project of a water line, according to Annapolis County warden Peter Newton.
“We had plans for it but somebody else apparently had plans for it, too,” he said.
Rick Jacques, the Rails to Trails coordinator for the region, says he was contacted at the first of this week by someone at Cornwallis who was upset by noisy work late at night on the former rail bed.
The railed is being converted to a multi-use trai, but “we weren’t doing any work,” said Jacques.
A check with the Department of Natural Resources and the Municipality of Annapolis found neither organization was involved in the area.
Jacques went to Cornwallis and found that excavators had torn up the rail bed as they removed up to 150 of the two-foot diameter pipes.
He said about 150 of the 40-foot pipe sections had been taken, and added that those involved must have worked hard since the heavy steel was five-eighths of an inch thick.
He found an excavator tucked out of site and called Bridgetown RCMP who have yet to release results of their investigation, but police said a similar removal of steel water pipes had been made a few days earlier near the former gun range at Granville.
Warden Newton said he understands police have traced the people involved because of the sale of the steel to a salvage yard. The steel apparently fetched $12,000.
“They recognized an opportunity,” the warden added.
