Overview

• Since early June, thieves have cut and stolen cables from stations in Großburgwedel, Garbsen, Isernhagen and Altwarmbüchen, leaving only short stubs behind.
• Investigators from Polizeidirektion Hannover and Landeskriminalamt Niedersachsen are examining whether the incidents form a serial pattern or involve an organized group.
• Enercity and EnBW report that replacing cables, labor and mandatory Eichrechtsprüfungen drive repair costs to between €2,500 and €8,000 per incident.
• Perpetrators target easily accessible cables and sell the copper in small, often anonymous batches to local scrap dealers, complicating police tracing efforts.
• Operators are working with manufacturers on security upgrades such as surveillance cameras and cut-resistant cable designs to deter future thefts.