EDITORIAL - Making crime pay

Businessman Davidson Bangayan was arrested the other day, but not for rice smuggling under the alias of David Tan. Bangayan, who insists he is not Tan, was instead served an arrest warrant at the Senate on charges of involvement in a group pilfering copper wires for smuggling out of the country.

The case stemmed from a raid seven years ago on a building in Caloocan City, wherein 450 kilos of copper wires, pilfered mainly from electricity transmission lines, were allegedly found. Bangayan was indicted as David Tan along with three others for violating a 1994 law against that specific offense, Republic Act 7832.

The arrest raised questions on whether the case would have prospered if Tan had not been accused of being one of the country’s biggest rice smugglers. In many parts of the country, copper pilferage wreaks havoc on electricity transmission, and it thrives because of the fences who buy the metal from those who do the actual wire cutting.

Law enforcers go after thieves, but they should launch a more aggressive campaign against fences of all sorts of items. Copper pilfered from electricity wires are not the only materials for which there are ready buyers. Aluminum is also prized, so burglars take ladders and even cooking pans from houses. Vehicle spare parts dealers buy hot goods, which is why side mirrors, tire rims and even windshield wipers are stolen from vehicles.

Fences play a key role in most crimes against property. Robbers have killed victims to take mobile phones that are then sold to fences. There are fences for almost everything that can be stolen, from luxury vehicles to computers, jewelry and jeans lifted from clotheslines. If law enforcers want to drastically bring down crimes against property in their areas of jurisdiction, they should go after those who buy stolen goods. Fences make crime pay.