LONDON, Aug 4: A thief who used a crane to steal five lorry-loads of track from one of Britain’s busiest railway lines has been jailed for nearly three years.

Anthony Porretta, 53, masterminded the theft of 171 tonnes of steel track, worth 83,000 pounds, to sell for scrap. He used a crane to load five trucks with the metal, left by the side of the line during engineering work in the village of Acton Turville, Gloucestershire.

Porretta, from Newport, south Wales, sold it to a scrap dealer in his home town, capitalising on recent rises in metal prices.

He was sentenced to two years and nine months in jail after pleading guilty to theft at Bristol Crown Court. Charges against four others were dropped.

Police said he could have caused a crash as the track was removed in the early hours of Dec 1, 2006.

“A piece of rail track could have struck a passing train and caused a serious rail incident,” said Acting Detective Inspector Jon Rawson of British Transport Police.

BTP Chief Constable Ian Johnston has described metal theft as the force’s second-biggest challenge after terrorism.

Between January and mid-June, there were 1,169 recorded cases of metal theft and 235 arrests. Thieves regularly take copper signal cables, leading to delays for passengers and expensive repairs for Network Rail.—Reuters