vlad.tribnet.com / Issue #153 / Crime watch / Reading article...

Not long ago, Japan presented a sculpture to the city of Nakhodka – a statue of a woman and a dove.

The statue symbolizes peace and love – and hints at a hoped-for harmony between Russia and Japan. But some unknown reason, thieves knocked it down anyway and tried to haul it away. When they couldn’t move the entire sculpture, they cut off the head and arms, along with the pigeon, and stole them.

Thieves have dug cables containing non-ferrous metals out of the ground to sell. Anything metal is being stolen or sold. The reasons are obvious: There is a market for metal. On the outskirts of town, posted on fences, are signs reading, "Buy scrap iron. Call …"

Stealing metal is becoming an epidemic in the city, with thieves also walking off with equipment at plants and railways. The damage to public art includes a sculpture of Stepan Geitz, who used to work as director of a shipping company. When relatives of Geitz came to his grave, they found his head had been cut off. The same thing happened to a monument to former Nakhodka Mayor Alexei Tkachev. The mass-media has written about the vandalism, asking the "barbarians" to return what they had stolen, but they never did.

Near Tungus Bay, thieves went after a unique artillery battery, No. 905. Armed with blow-torches, they cut off most of the canon. Even historical markers have disappeared. A metal plate commemorating the founding of Nakhodka as city, which had been located at Sovershonoletia Square, disappeared. A man who gave only his first and patronymic names, Alexander Nikolaevich, explained that he acts as a go-between in the scrap iron business. His job, he said, is to introduce buyers and sellers. He said he gets between 70 cents and $1.50 per kilo.

Militia officers say they suspect local bums, along with other traders, in the deal.