Police officers from Nowogrodziec, working with the Forest Guard from Świętoszów, caught a 32-year-old man red-handed. – As officers established, the resident of a nearby town had been coming under cover of darkness for two weeks to the place where a company was dismantling the disused railway line on the Osiecznica–Świętoszów section and stealing various elements – reports asp. szt. Monika Kaleta of the Provincial Police Headquarters in Wrocław.
She adds: – He loaded bolts and wooden sleepers into his car, and used a chain and steel cable to attach a 10-metre section of rail to the tow hitch, dragged it to another part of the forest and cut it into smaller pieces.
The 32-year-old caused losses amounting to PLN 28,000. The policewoman said: – He stole a total of five rails, 30 metres long, 1.8 tonnes of bolts and more than 40 wooden sleepers, which he intended to use as firewood.
On the day of his arrest, the 32-year-old appeared at the place where, several hours earlier, he had prepared further items for theft. The resident of Osiecznica municipality now faces up to five years in prison.