New cable theft at the railways, Infrabel suspects Eastern European thieves gang
On the Namur-Brussels railway line, a new cable theft happened in Chastre, in Walloon Brabant. Infrabel thinks that a professional gang of thieves from Eastern Europe is once again active.
During the night, Infrabel received a report of a cable theft on the Namur-Brussels line. Vandalism has also been committed. As a result, the repairs will take a long time.
Locally, the SNCB is deploying replacement buses between Namur and Gembloux. The incident has no impact on trains in Flanders.
Last year, the police discovered that a professional gang of thieves from Romania was active. After that a sharp drop in the number of cable thefts was reported, but now there is again a clear rise. In the first half of this year, there were already 124 cable thefts, compared to 87 in the same period last year, and 65 in the whole of 2017.
Based on police information, Infrabel suspects that the same gang from Eastern Europe has reorganised itself and is again active in our country, especially around Namur and Liège.