Thief dressed as tradie steals copper pipe in Peppermint Grove

POLICE are hunting for a copper pipe thief who disguised himself as a tradie when found in a disused, multi-storey Amana Living retirement home on Stirling Highway.

Site security was alerted when an alarm was activated twice at the Peppermint Grove site on esday, October 17, before firefighters were called when the alarm’s wiring was cut in a third attempt on the safety system.

Senior Constable Belinda Crafford said security found the thief dressed in steel-copped boots, dark work clothes, a high visibility jacket and leather work gloves, with tools and bags.

“He was inside a room and said ‘I’m just here cutting some pipes’,” Snr Const Crafford said.

The security watched the man as he left and called police, but the man returned to the site to collect his bags before taking off.

A police dog later found the bags, containing sawn-off sections of copper pipe at the site’s fence.

The thief was described as in his late-40s to early 50s, 1.7m to 1.75m tall, with a fair complexion, Australian accent and sandy-coloured balding hair.