FORGET garden gnomes – water taps are proving the most popular target for thieves.
City West Water received up to 10 calls from St Albans residents last week complaining of having no water supply and of taps missing from their front yards.
Thieves chose to hit, among others, Adelaide and Theodore streets.
Keilor Downs Police confirmed they had received “numerous reports” of garden taps stolen over the past week in St Albans, Delahey and Kealba.
Police said the thieves turned off the water at the mains before stealing copper piping, which they believe is being sold as scrap metal.
“It’s quite a lot of effort considering just how small a quantity of copper they obtain,” police told Star.
Police said they were contacting scrap metal dealers in the area, as part of their inquiries.
