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Marana - Arizona Department of Public Safety and the Southern Commercial Vehicle Enforcement Unit is investigating a copper theft worth hundreds of thousands of dollars.

DPS tells News 4 a commercial vehicle traffic stop was conducted on Interstate 10 near Mile post 200 Thursday. Approximately 48 copper ingots from the ASARCO Mining Corporation were discovered in the trailer of the commercial vehicle. (Copper ingots are large copper plates. Each plate measures 4.0 feet in width, 4.0 feet in length, two inch in thickness and weighs approximately 880 pounds).

With the information obtained from the traffic stop and with the assistance of the department's Criminal Investigation Division, a search warrant was executed at a residence located in the 6000 of W. Tangerine Road in Marana. During the execution of the warrant 54 copper ingots were discovered. This lead to the seizure of three truck tractors, three semi-trailers, one fork lift and two hand carts.

Representatives from the ARSARCO Hayden Plant were on scene to make positive identification of their stolen copper ingots. The approximate value of the stolen copper is in excess of $300,000.