Valuable copper piping has been stolen from van roof racks in Wolverhampton as the metal theft epidemic continues in the Black Country.

The latest break-ins follow revelations of an explosion in metal thefts, with 600 attacks on homes and businesses across the area in just seven weeks over the summer.

Police said today vans parked in Compton and Merry Hill were targeted in two separate attacks. On both occasions thieves broke into locked roof top boxes and removed the contents.

Insp Jen Richards, who oversees policing in the area, said: “Thieves know they can make a bit of money from copper pipes because of the high value of scrap metal.

“I would say to van drivers, remove all valuable items from your vehicle every time you leave it.”

The van box in Compton was broken into between last Friday and Sunday, with the van in Merry Hill targeted on September 6.

Insp Richards said there had also been an increase in the number of copper thefts from electric and gas meters.

The warning comes two days after West Midlands Police began touring Black Country scrapyards to fight rising metal thefts across the region under Operation Steel.

Last month the Express & Star revealed how thieves were exploiting lax laws that allow them to arrive at scrap merchants in taxis and receive cash for goods without proof of identity.

Dudley is the area worst-hit by thieves cashing in on rocketing prices of metal, fuelled by a construction boom in the Middle East.

Figures show that in July and August alone Dudley was hit 182 times while Sandwell had been struck 181 times. Walsall and Wolverhampton police recorded 119 and 116 crimes respectively.

Last week metal thieves took a wrought iron front gate from outside a Coseley family’s home in broad daylight. Jonathan Davis, aged 16, watched in shock as the crooks took the £300 driveway gate from its hinges at his parents’ home in Ivyhouse Lane, loaded it on to a flat bed lorry and drove off.