On Hlboká cesta street in the Bratislava district of Staré Mesto last Friday, July 31, passersby saw a strange scene: two men calmly removing copper parts and roofing from the roof of an abandoned building in the morning. In broad daylight, in the city center, without any hurry.
One of the passersby did not just walk by — he recorded the thieves on video and immediately called the police line 158. Patrol officers from the District Police Department Bratislava I arrived so quickly that they caught the offenders red-handed as they tried to climb onto a neighboring building. As reported by TASR, the spokesperson of the regional police Michal Szeiff confirmed the detention and separately thanked the witness for vigilance — according to him, it is the timely call that most often decides whether the criminals can be caught on the spot. Investigative actions are currently being conducted with both detainees.
Why copper?
The motive is simple — money. Purchase prices for copper scrap in Slovakia as of August 2026 range from €8.80 to €9.60 per kilogram depending on the purity of the metal: new wire costs the most, chunk copper and mixtures are cheaper. From one roof, several dozen kilograms can be taken, which is already hundreds of euros. So roofs, lightning rods, and cables remain favorite targets.
A field “record” set by a Czech
A 34-year-old man in Plzeň, Czech Republic, went even further — he climbed to remove copper roofing and a lightning rod from the roof of the city police station. As Dnes24 writes, one of the officers heard rustling from above during a break after midnight. At first, they thought it was bats, but the noise grew louder, and this police station’s roof had been robbed before. The police blocked escape routes and caught the man in striped shorts on his own roof. When asked if he was not confused by a dozen police cars near the entrance, the detainee only apologized: there were doubts, but the desire to earn money on metal won. The idea, he said, was suggested by acquaintances.
If you witness a similar scene — do not intervene yourself, but call 158 and, if possible, record video. Numbers of all emergency services in Slovakia are collected on our important phone numbers page.
