Ernesto Martinez Elorriaga
Correspondent
Newspaper La Jornada
Tuesday March 14, 2023, p. 8
Morelia, Mich., The Office of the Attorney General of the Republic initiated an investigation file against the person or persons responsible for the theft of 12 copper cores from transformers of the Federal Electricity Commission (CFE), perpetrated at the facilities of the productive company of the State in Morelia, Michoacan.
During the month of March, one person was electrocuted and another was injured in different events that occurred in the municipality of Morelia, when trying to steal cable. This crime has been repeated several times in the last decade.
On March 1, experts and elements of the Federal Ministerial Police inspected a CFE establishment after company authorities denounced that the cores of 12 transformers had disappeared, for which they reported the Federal Public Ministry based in Morelia, to in order to integrate the research portfolio.
According to Fundacionendesa.org, the core of the transformer is used to conduct the magnetic flux, since copper is a great conductor of energy. The artifact includes a copper wire wound through the core at one end and is covered by an insulating layer, which is usually varnish.
These types of facilities are located in the vicinity of Morelia and the authorities estimate that criminals looking for easy money to buy narcotics perpetrated the theft.
On the morning of the previous March 5, a man who allegedly stole copper cable was badly injured when suffering an electric shock, an incident that occurred next to the railways located behind the premises that house the newspaper La voz de Michoacán, in the neighborhood Augustin Arriaga Rivera.
People passing through the place saw the injured subject and requested help from the emergency number 911. Municipal firefighters and paramedics immediately attended, who gave the individual first aid. The subject was only known to be approximately 30 years old and was taken to a hospital.
In addition, on March 7, a man died in the Civil Hospital of the municipality of Charo due to injuries caused by an electric shock while trying to steal copper cable from the CFE in the Tres Puentes neighborhood, also in Morelia.
In the recycling centers of Michoacán and of almost the entire country, a kilogram of copper is quoted between 150 and 165 pesos, a figure that varies, since the price of waste metals changes almost every day.
