A scrap metal thief called George Steel was caught red-handed stealing metal.
Mr Steel, 39, from Ferndale Crescent, Carshalton, was stealing metal from a boarded up property in Durand Close, Carshalton on Friday March 9.
He had forced his way into the front of the property and was gathering up copper piping, radiators and a copper boiler.
Officers led by the Wrythe Safer Neighbourhood Team surrounded the building while a police dog unit with an Alsatian went inside to detain scrap metal thieving Steel.
Officers found Mr Steel hiding behind a copper water tank when they arrested him in the split level maisonette.
The property had only been boarded up a couple of hours before the arrest.
He has been jailed for 14 weeks after he pleaded guilty to burglary at Camberwell Green Magistrates Court on Saturday, March 10.
The prosecution marks the start of a major police crackdown on metal thefts across the borough.
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