Thieves make off with Austrian church organ pipes

The things people steal these days... A pastor from a small Austrian town has reported that thieves broke into his church and stole scores of tin organ pipes, probably to exchange for their value as scrap metal. They dismantled and removed 122 tin pipes from the instrument, leaving only those in wood and tinplate, according to Manfred Mitteregger from the church in Groebming. "We noticed at once that the organ did not sound as good as usual but at first we thought it was a technical breakdown," he told the Austrian news agency APA.

The church estimates that the theft will cost it 20,000 euros (27,200 dollars), though investigators say the sale of the stolen pipes will only bring the criminals 700 euros (950 dollars).

Thefts of metal, in particular electrical copper wire cables, have increased in recent months in Austria as metal prices have soared.

I think this isn't just in Austria either - there were signs all over some metal cables on a railing at the Thames Barrier Park in London, which read 'Galvanised cables. No scrap value'. Seems very mean to steal church organs from a tiny church tho, especially for how much they'd get for them. They could've at least stolen the whole set to sell at full price... :-P