With copper firmly entrenched about $3 per pound, attempted heists of copper from construction sites, utility poles and other electrical installations to resell for scrap is nothing new. But when thieves broke into a vacant building in downtown Kansas City to rip out copper plumbing pipe, they had a bit of surprise when they kicked through the sheetrock of an adjacent office, which was the Mexican Consulate.
According to this Kansas City Star report, they set off the Mexican Consulate's security alarm and hightailed it out of there. Although their illegal antics probably didn't put a damper on U.S.-Mexico relations, they apparently did leave quite a mess -- the Kansas City Star said when they cut into the copper pipe water gushed all over the buillding.