Chinese Teens Steal Electric Cable to Pay For Games

[StewShearerOld]

Chinese Teens Steal Electric Cable to Pay For Games

Two teens in Sequian city stole more than three hundred meters of construction grade electrical cable to fund their gaming hobbies.

Videogames can be addictive. The first all-nighter of my life was a direct result of my getting a new game that day and being so enthralled that I couldn't stop playing. Granted, the seven Coca-Colas I drank over the course of the night may have played a part as well, but that's beside the point. My obsession with that particular game eventually led to my staying awake for a grand total of fifty-two straight hours, and stands to this day as probably one of the dumber things I've done for videogames. I am, of course, completely outclassed by the stupid and <a href=http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/mar/05/korean-girl-starved-online-game>sometimes horrific things others around the world have done, and continue to do in the name of gaming.

Take the recent case of two Chinese teenagers who stole and sold more than three hundred meters of construction grade electrical cable with the goal of funding their online gaming. The pair, Hu and Li, met at an internet café and, after devising their cable caper, set out to rob construction zones in the city of Suqian.

What's remarkable about their crime is the considerable effort the pair put into their thievery. Generally speaking, crimes like these bring to mind stupid kids out for easy money. For Hu and Li, easy money apparently meant climbing two-story electric poles and severing potentially live cables that they then wrapped themselves in before climbing down to the ground. It really makes you wonder if there would have been some point where the two might have considered an actual job to be an easier alternative.

While Chinese police were mum on how they tracked down two bandits, Hu and Li both allegedly confessed to the crime. That being the case, officials were unable to recover any of the stolen cable. The boys had already sold it and spent the proceeds on online gaming, as planned.

Source: <a href=http://kotaku.com/to-fund-gaming-habit-two-teens-steal-electrical-cables-493087441>Kotaku





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[saintdane05]

Well, that makes Piracy look Lawful Neutral by comparison.

 

[Meestor Pickle]

I wonder how they got it in their minds "Yeah, we should steal that stuff"

 

[Jaeger_CDN]

not to be pedantic but you may want to reword this part

officials were unable to recover any of the stolen cable was recovered.

back On-Topic .... both boys were in the running for Darwin awards?

I know that there are problems like this even in Canada where people are cutting phone lines and burning the plastic off or stripping housing construction sites for copper pipe

 

[StewShearerOld]

not to be pedantic but you may want to reword this part

officials were unable to recover any of the stolen cable was recovered.

back On-Topic .... both boys were in the running for Darwin awards?

I know that there are problems like this even in Canada where people are cutting phone lines and burning the plastic off or stripping housing construction sites for copper pipe

Always appreciate a caught typo!

 

[Owyn_Merrilin]

This isn't even a "lol China" story, this is a "copper has gone way the hell up in value recently" story. For example, the house next door to mine had its air conditioning unit stolen in the time period between my old neighbors moving out and my new neighbors moving in, because the copper in that AC unit was valuable enough to tempt the local criminals to steal it. This happens somewhere near you pretty much every day.

 

[Abomination]

I can't quite get behind the sensationalism of this piece. Sure they used some of that money to fund their leisure time but they probably also used it to pay for food, rent, and other necessities.

I find it more interesting they decided to steal power cables than what they used the money to fund.

 

[Evil Smurf]

they must have been wired to think that was a good idea.

 

[gmaverick019_v1legacy]

This isn't even a "lol China" story, this is a "copper has gone way the hell up in value recently" story. For example, the house next door to mine had its air conditioning unit stolen in the time period between my old neighbors moving out and my new neighbors moving in, because the copper in that AC unit was valuable enough to tempt the local criminals to steal it. This happens somewhere near you pretty much every day.

this is very true, in my construction estimating class last fall we were working off the plans from a building in a city just 40 minutes from ours (we knew the engineer/designer, and they gave us everything to use) and in the specs they had used over 300 yards of copper trim for the building...and over 2/3rds of it WAS ACCESSIBLE ON THE OUTSIDE. when i was doing my estimate all i could think was "damn, if i was desperate enough..this would make some fucking bank. pay off a semester of extra shit from one night of thieving."

OT: some people just have wacky priorities..i'm sure in their minds they were desperate enough that this was perfectly okay.

 

[008Zulu_v1legacy]

I am curious, if their scheme had proceeded unhindered, how would they have been able to continue to play games if they sold the very cables that were providing them with power?

they must have been wired to think that was a good idea.

That was truly shocking.

 

[Remus]

And here I thought that electric cable theft was restricted to rednecks and degenerates. I've seen a house burn to the ground when some kids cut a live wire, that landed by a house and set it ablaze. The kids came out with minor injuries to their hands, and luckily the house was not occupied.

 

[Robert0288]

If they did 'that much planning' wouldn't they have known which lines where live and which aren't? It is fairly easy to figure out. They are probably at a bigger risk falling off and killing themselves.

 

[FalloutJack]

I never want to hear anyone tell me that we owe China anything ever again. Not after the this, the stink bugs, the lead poisoning, or the selling of children for WoW stuff.

 

[Paradoxrifts]

The things that human beings will do in the grips of a full blown addiction continue to both amaze and disappoint.

 

[Ironside]

The same thing happens here in the UK with people constantly trying to steal electrical cable. In a lot of cases if they strip the insulation off and find its aluminium instead they often just leave it lying on the ground, because its not as valuable. I have also had to see some horrific pictures of idiots who have tried cutting live cables, so these chinese kids should feel very lucky that they didnt do the same.

 

[Grabehn]

They do that here all the time, but just to get money. People even sell the stuff that they get, a while ago the government was giving light bulbs for poor people, and most of those were being sold on flea market. Same happens when they hospitals give out milk for women with babies.

 

[Lazy Kitty]

I wonder how they got it in their minds "Yeah, we should steal that stuff"

The copper is worth lots of money.
Over here people sometimes steal them too.
Though I don't think I've heard of any being stolen that were hooked up to the grid already.