Mumbai’s streets are witnessing a new kind of crime wave — not shootouts or gang wars, but copper cable heists. In the past year alone, over 29 cases of MTNL cable theft have been reported across the city. Hundreds of metres of underground copper cable, once powering Mumbai’s landline network, are vanishing overnight — feeding a booming black market for metal.

Men enter manhole while others stand guard, posing as MTNL staff, gang slips underground, tools in hand, vests on, confidence high

In one such late-night sting, Borivli police busted a gang of eight thieves red-handed as they sliced through MTNL’s network near Union Bank, Rokadia Lane, on October 30.

Coils of copper are then loaded into a waiting tempo under the cover of night

Alert cops spot thieves

Senior Inspector Madhusudan Naik said PSI Rajesh Kadam and his crime detection team spotted suspicious movement near two open manholes. “Tools were scattered around, and their story didn’t add up. One man was inside the manhole cutting cables, while another waited in a tempo nearby to transport the loot,” said Naik.

The fake MTNL crew then cashes in — their cut for a night’s work with a scrap dealer

Why copper?

MTNL’s underground network is laced with pure copper, a highly sought-after metal in imitation jewellery and industrial manufacturing. With prices hitting Rs 1150 per kg, old and unguarded cables have become a magnet for organised crime.

In backroom furnaces, the city’s stolen wires turn into molten money, pure copper gold

“These are skilled rackets,” said a senior officer. “They recruit ex-MTNL workers who know where the old lines are buried, then strip cables worth lakhs and sell them to illegal scrap dealers.”

From gutter to goldmine — the racket’s final act as dirty metal turns into clean cash

Black market chain

Once stolen, the cables are sold to unregistered scrap dealers, who burn the insulation to extract copper, then melt and resell it to jewellery makers and factories. Maksud Ansari, a Kandivli-based imitation jewellery trader, said, “As gold and silver prices have soared, the demand for copper has exploded. Prices have jumped nearly Rs 150 per kg in just a week.”

Screengrab from video shows the men in action as they steal underground MTNL copper cables

Police dig deeper

Under DCP Sandeep Jadhav, Borivli police have arrested all eight accused under theft and conspiracy charges. Investigators suspect the gang is part of a larger inter-district network operating across western suburbs like Andheri, Dahisar, and Kandivli. “We are checking links with similar cases in other zones,” said an officer.

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