Copper thefts leave Perth roads in darkness and cost taxpayers millions

More than 100 kilometres of major roads and paths across Perth remain unlit, some for years, because of widespread copper theft.

This week, police charged three people with stealing copper wire, which is lucrative on the black market.

Police said they arrested and charged a 31-year-old man who allegedly stole more than 190 metres of telecommunication cable from Gidgegannup, before selling the recovered copper to a scrap metal recycler.

That theft allegedly occurred over the King's Birthday long weekend in September from a Telstra site, where about 500 kilograms of copper was pulled out of the ground.

"This had a significant impact on the Gidgegannup and surrounding areas," Mundaring sergeant Tony Signal told 102.5 ABC Perth.

Sergeant Signal said police were increasingly scrutinising scrap metal recyclers.

"They're obliged by law to record any second-hand dealing of copper at the moment and we find that that's slipping through the cracks," he said.

Police Commissioner Col Blanch previously told the ABC organised crime sought to circumvent those rules when offloading stolen metal.

"We know that some scrap metal dealers are doing the wrong thing and doing a lot of business under the table … that's what [the] police's job is to stamp out," he said.

"However, when they can't sell it to a second-hand dealer, scrap dealer here, they will put it in a container and they will send large amounts of scrap metal overseas."

Roads in darkness

It's far from an isolated incident involving telecommunications infrastructure, with detectives charging a man with stealing around 50 metres of copper cabling from an exchange site in Wattleup last month.

A Telstra spokesperson said copper theft widely impacted service companies and that the telco's copper theft prevention team works closely with police agencies across Australia.

"We encourage anyone seeing any suspicious activity near our facilities to contact police immediately," the spokesperson said.

Street lighting also continues to be targeted, with police arresting a 41-year-old man and a 50-year-old woman this week, after a member of the public reported suspicious activity along Tonkin Highway in Ellenbrook.

Police stopped a vehicle in the vicinity a short time later and allege they found a significant amount of stolen insulated copper wiring.

Main Roads WA said as of October 2, more than 1,400km of cable had been stolen from its network, taking more than 100km of street lighting and nearly 30km of pedestrian/cycle paths lighting offline.

"Since cable theft became a widespread issue, Main Roads have replaced 480km of copper roadway and PSP lighting cable as well as re-cabling and re-energising over 500 individual poles," a spokesperson said.

"Currently, Kwinana Freeway, Tonkin Highway and Reid Highway are the three priority routes that Main Roads is focusing on for cable replacement and anti-theft treatments.

"Works are also planned in key locations along Forrest Highway, Great Northern Highway, Mitchell Freeway, Roe Highway, Albany Highway, Ennis Avenue, Mandurah Road and Armadale Road."

Costing taxpayers millions

The WA government has allocated nearly $12 million in the 2026-27 state budget for street lighting cable theft replacement and security upgrades but still faces an uphill battle.

Main Roads director of metropolitan operations James Pinnington said he expected the program to take several years.

"We're replacing the cable, and as we're doing it, we're putting in different measures, that will make it a lot harder for people to then break into our pink conduit system and steal the cable," he told the ABC.

Mr Pinnington said the thefts caused more than a driving hazard.

"It's dangerous to our technicians as well who've got to attend site and try and make these sites safe and de-energise cable, so it's an incredibly dangerous thing that they're doing," he said.