{"id":461129,"date":"2026-06-04T20:01:10","date_gmt":"2026-06-04T20:01:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/461129\/"},"modified":"2026-06-04T20:01:10","modified_gmt":"2026-06-04T20:01:10","slug":"rotorua-copper-theft-thieves-dig-up-150m-of-cables-from-water-site","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/461129\/","title":{"rendered":"Rotorua copper theft: Thieves dig up 150m of cables from water site"},"content":{"rendered":"

The site was not operational and the water supply was not affected by the theft.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is theft from the community and is a nuisance for us as it will need to be replaced, which will cost approximately $2000,\u201d Gurden said.<\/p>\n

He said the power cable was made of copper, but it was a small cable. <\/p>\n

Ng\u0101ti Rangiwewehi iwi, who worked with the council monitoring the waterway, said in a Facebook post they were \u201cdisappointed\u201d by the theft.<\/p>\n

The post said the cable ran between Rewarewa Spring pump station and stream monitoring site.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis impacts vital monitoring of our wai [water] and delays important environmental work.\u201d<\/p>\n

The post said diesel had also been siphoned from Hamurana Golf Course machinery, potentially around the same time.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe understand times are tough, but this behaviour puts our water supply at risk and affects those maintaining the course and walkways for everyone. <\/p>\n

\u201cThis isn\u2019t okay \u2013 it impacts us all.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"TheThe Rewarewa Spring, near where 150m of copper cables was stolen by thieves. Photo \/ Rotorua Lakes Council<\/p>\n

The post said security would be increased in the area.<\/p>\n

\u201cPlease stop and respect our shared spaces, our wai, and each other.\u201d<\/p>\n

A police spokesperson said they had exhausted all lines of inquiry to find those responsible.<\/p>\n

They said police were seeing people put themselves in extreme danger to steal copper, especially those who were cutting wires or being near exposed wires.<\/p>\n

Stealing copper was not worth the risk of serious injury or death linked to these methods of obtaining it.<\/p>\n

The thefts could also cause thousands of dollars in damage.<\/p>\n

Police said anyone who saw damaged or exposed wires should call Orion on 0800 363 9898 immediately.<\/p>\n

Anyone with information in relation to the Hamurana incident was asked to contact police online at 105.police.govt.nz<\/a> or by calling 105, and reference 260528\/9523.<\/p>\n

Information could also be provided anonymously through Crime Stoppers at 0800 555 111. <\/p>\n

Why copper?<\/p>\n

Thieves often target copper items<\/a> as the material can be sold to scrap metal yards.<\/p>\n

According to Endless Metals, a scrap metal buyer based in Auckland, old cables can be valuable, especially if they contain copper.<\/p>\n

Stripped cables typically achieve higher returns than insulated ones, the business\u2019 website said.<\/p>\n

Prices varied but June pricing had copper cables fetching $4 to $18.30 per kilogram, depending if they were \u201cbright and shiny\u201d or covered in PVC.<\/p>\n

Fuel thefts plateau<\/p>\n

Rotorua Police area commander Inspector Herby Ngawhika said police locally noticed a spike in fuel thefts immediately when prices shot up several weeks ago. <\/p>\n

He said it had plateaued now.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s not to say we are not getting large fuel thefts out of the likes of K\u0101ingaroa Forest around the heavy machinery but in general terms it\u2019s not to the degree we expected.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kelly Makiha<\/a> is a senior journalist who has reported for the Rotorua Daily Post for more than 25 years, covering mainly police, court, human interest and social issues.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The site was not operational and the water supply was not affected by the theft. \u201cThis is theft…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":461130,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[6755,47608,4201,88853,71,111,43,139,69,1118,1327,1857,14168,66960,810,376],"class_list":["post-461129","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-150m","tag-cables","tag-copper","tag-dig","tag-from","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-of","tag-rotorua","tag-site","tag-theft","tag-thieves","tag-up","tag-water"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/461129","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=461129"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/461129\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/461130"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=461129"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=461129"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=461129"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}