New trend: Covington crooks targeting new tech

CONVINGTON, Ga. - Covington Police are looking for at least two thieves who stole from and damaged vehicles at an AT&T facility on Industrial boulevard. Dozens of trucks were damaged and tools were stolen. 

These professional thieves, as Covington Police call them, were caught on surveillance cameras Tuesday night driving a dark colored SUV into an AT&T complex where they caused quite a bit of damage.

"They were able to go into 40 or 50 vehicles by cutting locks, so this did take quite some time," said Captain Ken Malcolm of the Covington Police Department.

Malcolm said the trucks were not the intended target, however. "Their intent was to get much more expensive fiber optioc equipment, fusion splicers, that range from anywhere from $10,000 to $40,000," he said.

Luckily, officers said the burglars only got away with tools and other supplies from the trucks. All of the expensive equipment was stored away.

"It's very inconvenient for these businesses that experience these types of losses, but it's better than losing the equipment thats worth tens of thousands of dollars," said Malcolm.

Covington Police said these kinds of crimes are on the rise. "We have had problems in other cities," said Malcolm.  He said places like Snellville, Albany, and Augusta have been targeted. In those cases, he said, the crooks did successfully steal the fusion boxes. 

Then, officers said these thieves sell the boxes on the dark web. It's a black market they said is only growing.

FOX 5 spoke with one of the employees at the facility who said they have private security investigating this incident. 

Anyone with information on the vehicle or the burglars is urged to call Covington Police.