AN ALICANTE metal company employee stole 185,000 parts over nearly three years which he then sold off cheaply to a scrap metal firm.
The Spaniard. 37, worked at the factory for eight years that made and sold metal parts, and helped himself to items with a retail value of over €1 million.
Company bosses carried out an inventory and discovered a massive shortfall, prompting them to install security cameras to identify the culprit.
Video footage showed the worker filling up boxes for transportation with various metals, which he would then calmly walk out of the front door with and place them in the boot of his vehicle.
At the end of his shift, the errant employee drove to a scrap metal dealer to sell off the stolen items.
The metal company reported the man to the Policia Nacional who followed the thief to the scrap yard.
He was intercepted after his latest piece of illegal business and had an invoice of stolen items from the scrap dealership that tallied exactly with what he had stolen throughout the day from his employer.
On the day in question, he got just €115 for goods that had a retail value of over €2,500.
He was arrested with officers obtaining ledgers from the scrap yard of 70 sales where he pocketed just under €4,300, and was just the tip of the iceberg of his thefts.
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