Copper Trains Ransacked by ‘Moles’ in Full-Moon Desert Heists

On nights lit by a full moon, thieves leap from trucks onto trains as they roll through Chile’s Atacama Desert, before throwing 80-kilo (180-pound) slabs of copper to the ground and disappearing into the dark. What’s worse for the mines that dot the desert, the robberies are becoming more common and more audacious. About 40 incidents were reported in the first half of this year, according to the prosecutor’s office in Antofagasta, up from just six in all of 2014.