Heavy Metal Criminals

[GuyJean]

Stainless Steel Thefts on the Rise
http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/national/20070222TDY03005.htm

[floatl][/floatl]Stainless steel objects in public spaces have become the target of thieves as the market price of nickel, the raw material of the steel, has increased globally, leading local governments to take countermeasures.

At about 7 a.m. Tuesday in Otori Park in Sakai, Osaka Prefecture, a local resident informed police that 51 stainless steel car barriers, worth a total of 4.6 million yen, had disappeared from the park's eight entrances. The tubular arch barriers, which are 65 centimeters high and 70 centimeters wide, were apparently stolen along with the padlocks that secured them to the ground. The police are investigating the case.

Similar cases have occurred elsewhere in the nation this year.

In late January, a 100-kilogram tide gate was stolen in Imabari, Ehime Prefecture, while about 200 chains at a park in Higashiomi, Shiga Prefecture, were also stolen.

In February, nine car barriers and two stainless steel plates in a restroom were stolen from Tonboike Park in Kishiwada, Osaka Prefecture.

According to traders of metal recyclables, rapid economic growth in China and India in recent years has boosted the demand for metals. In particular, the price of stainless steel, which can be used for building materials and pipes at chemical plants, has increased drastically...

Once again, it's the gaijin's fault..

GJ

[Captain Japan]

There should be no shortage of stories for this thread...
100 iron plates weighing 180 tons stolen from transport company
Mainichi

TSUSHIMA, Aichi -- About 100 iron plates weighing some 180 tons have been stolen from a transport company, police said. The iron plates, each some 6 by 1.5 meters, had been kept on the compounds of the Mine Shoten firm in Tsushima. Evidence suggests one of the company's crane trucks was used by someone between 8 a.m. on Feb. 19 and 8 p.m. on Feb. 20. The company filed a report with police on Wednesday. The iron plates, weighing 1.8 tons each, were worth about 19 million yen. The plates are used at construction sites for vehicles to run on.

[Takechanpoo]

[quote="GuyJean"]
Once again, it's the gaijin's fault.. ]

Fortunately Chinese is not gaijin.
Chinese is chinese.

[JustInJapan]

Fortunately Chinese is not gaijin.
Chinese is chinese.

Whats a Gaijin then? a Non Asian? A White man:cool: ?:confused:

[Captain Japan]

Japan metal thieves steal kids' slides, toilet roof
Reuters

TOKYO - Children's slides, incense holders from cemeteries and even the roof of a public toilet have disappeared in a spate of metal robberies in Japan prompted by surging steel and copper prices.

Last year, there were about 5,700 such robberies in Japan causing damages worth some 2 billion yen (9 million pounds), and the number of cases is rising, media reports said citing the National Police Agency.

There were four incidents of metals robberies on Sunday alone, including the theft of 550 kg of copper wire worth some 330,000 yen in Gifu prefecture, central Japan, media said.

Last month, thieves stole two stainless steel slides from parks in Saitama prefecture neighbouring Tokyo.

"There were bolts scattered around the area, and the steps for the slides were left behind," a town official said....more...

[Captain Japan]

It is interesting that something set to be discarded can be stolen...
1,000 metal dishes and bowls for school lunches stolen
Mainichi

TOYONAKA, Osaka -- About 1,000 aluminum dishes and bowls for school lunches that were to be discarded have been stolen from a school lunch center here, police said.

Investigators suspect that the thief stole them in a bid to sell them as metal prices are rising on the international market, and are searching for the culprit.

The incident follows a spate of thefts of drain covers, electric wires and bells on fire-watch towers among other metal objects across the country over the past several months.

At around noon on Thursday, a 54-year-old worker at the municipal school lunch center noticed about 1,000 aluminum dishes and bowls, totaling about 235 kilograms, had disappeared from its scrap yard in the Hattori district of Toyonaka, local police said.

The Toyonaka Municipal Board of Education that manages the center alerted police. The dishes and bowls were to be disposed of later this month, investigators said.

[Captain Japan]

This is now a crisis...
Owner of disused factory apprehends metal thief by spraying fire extinguisher
Mainichi

MITO -- The owner of an abandoned factory here sprayed a fire extinguisher at a thief who was trying to steal metal sheets from the plant and subdued the man before handing him over to police, according to officers.

Sakae Takita, 59, president of a waste disposal company, inspected the former plant in Sakuragawa, Ibaraki Prefecture, at about 9:30 p.m. on Thursday, and found two men loading steel sheets from the factory onto a truck.

Takita sprayed a fire extinguisher at one of the two thieves and held him before handing the man over to police officers. The other man who fled the scene was arrested by police later in Ishioka, Ibaraki Prefecture.

Both men, Tokuji Tanaka, 40, and Yoshiyuki Iijima, 36, stand accused of stealing six steel sheets, each 3 meters by 55 centimeters....more...

[Mulboyne]

Yomiuri: 2 groups arrested over stolen metal

Tochigi prefectural police said they have arrested two groups over the last few days on separate charges of stealing metal items. On Sunday, two people, including construction worker Akira Hojo, 35, of Kasukabe, Saitama Prefecture, were arrested on suspicion of stealing five steel plates (each measuring six meters by 1.5 meters, with a total value of about 1 million yen) at about 1:15 a.m. from the municipal-run No. 5 Primary School in Tochigi, in the prefecture. On Monday, three people including unemployed Yoshihiro Egawa, 40, of Oyama in the prefecture, were arrested on suspicion of stealing 17 items, including 14 stainless steel pipes and steel tools--valued at about 15,000 yen--from the Musashi Kanko building supplies yard in Mooka in the prefecture at about 4 a.m., according to the police. The suspects were caught while loading the items into a van, after a yard employee who lives nearby contacted the police.

[Captain Japan]

Truck loaded with steel stolen from metal yard
Mainichi

ANPACHI, Gifu -- A truck loaded with reinforcing steel has been stolen from a metal yard, police said Wednesday.

At about 6 a.m., Haruhiro Nakamura, 58, president of Nakamura Tekkin, found a 4-ton truck loaded with 2,000 pieces of reinforcing steel, worth some 320,000 yen, missing from its construction material storage yard in Anpachi.

The doors of the truck were unlocked but its key was not in the ignition, local police said. The reinforcing steel was to be transported to a construction site in Mie Prefecture on Wednesday morning.

[Greji]

Truck loaded with steel stolen from metal yard
Mainichi

You know, now that I think of it, the fence for these stolen supplies has to be foreign. Only FGs use real steel and metal in re-enforcing their construction. Remember the Kobe earthquake when the section of the expressway fell over. They found out that all bamboo poles had been used for the re-enforcement rods in the concrete, instead of the required iron rods. Well I suppose one has to save a little money where one can! I wonder if Aneha worked on that design?

[American Oyaji]

gboothe, please tell me you are joking about the bamboo.

[Greji]

gboothe, please tell me you are joking about the bamboo.

Okay, AO, I'm Joking! You did say please tell you.

But, that's a lie, they did use bamboo. There was an investigation or two, but it was pretty low key and I never saw any results (if there were any). I think there were some pictures around here somewhere. If I can find them ago, I'll repost them.

[Captain Japan]

Okay, AO, I'm Joking! You did say please tell you.

But, that's a lie, they did use bamboo. There was an investigation or two, but it was pretty low key and I never saw any results (if there were any). I think there were some pictures around here somewhere. If I can find them ago, I'll repost them.

This article has some information:

Specialists have lost confidence in their forecasts about location and construction for earthquakes. Severe quakes have hit northern Japan as well as Kobe, but none have occurred near Shizuoka or Tokyo where quake experts predicted. Also, engineers who looked at Japanese standards as the highest in the world must now reassess their ideas about bridges, roads,
and buildings. In the U.S., Los Angeles and San Francisco officials emulated Japanese building standards said to protect against 8.3 magnitude quakes of the 1923 Kanto scale, but they must now reconsider the extent of damage to Kobe-area expressways and railroads. At first, Japanese officials are skeptical about creating economically viable standards that can
withstand a quake such as yesterday. Such standards allowed Kobe to create two large developments on landfill, but these areas suffered broken surfaces, flooding, and sludge or mud holes where their buildings sank into the bay. Later, serious breaches and even criminal disregard of construction regulations led people to question safety. The Shinkansen bullet train is also a victim because damaged support piles were found with wood braces within the pilings thought to be filled solidly with concrete.

[Blah Pete]

I saw the Kobe reports and what happened was they put all the wood scraps and other leftovers from construction in the support pillars to save on the amount of cement used. I think they still had steel reinforncement but not the required amount of cement.
After the Taiwan earthquake paint cans and other construction garbage was found in condo walls to save on the amount of cement used.

On the subject of metal pricing stainless steel rose 70% in the US from Nov 2006-07. My company manufactures stainless products in the US and there have been serious price increases. Aluminum in Japan went up about 30-40% last year.