Thieves have once again darkened a stretch of O'ahu freeway by stealing 3,150 feet of copper wire from street lights. The theft of $10,700 worth of copper wire is the third such offense in 12 days.

A repair crew with the state Department of Transportation discovered the missing wire yesterday while responding to a complaint filed Friday about lights out on the freeway at the Waiawa interchange.

Thieves made off with 2,100 feet of No. 4 gauge wire and 1,050 feet of No. 6 gauge wire and darkened a stretch of about five lights.

Honolulu police have opened a first-degree theft investigation.

So far this month, thieves have taken 17,250 feet, or 3.3 miles, of copper wire from light fixtures along the H-1 Freeway to sell as scrap metal. This year, the take is more than $164,300 worth of copper wire from O'ahu freeways.

DOT repair crews found shredded wire and tools on the side of the road yesterday.

DOT spokesman Scott Ishikawa said crews also found copper wire that was cut but had not been removed from other locations. Thieves have been moving from location to location, cutting wire before returning to pull it out, he said.

Ishikawa would not say where crews found the wire that was cut but not removed.

"Unfortunately, they took this section of wire but we also found some other wires they were trying to take and were able to re-attach them," Ishikawa said. "It's kind of a cat-and-mouse game we've got going out here."

The thefts most likely occurred sometime over the weekend, police said, and appear to be linked to the two previous thefts.

On April 4, thieves struck the westbound lanes of H-1 Freeway in Makakilo, causing a small explosion and stealing more than a mile of copper wire worth $24,000.

On April 1, thieves stole more than a mile and a half of copper wire worth $33,600 from a stretch of H-1 Freeway in Kunia.

Department of Transportation workers discovered the theft when they tried to reactivate a set of nine freeway lights that had gone out because of an overloaded transformer.

A task force comprised of Honolulu police and state deputy sheriffs was formed more than a year and a half ago to combat the freeway thefts, but it has been unsuccessful.

Miles of the H-1 Freeway and the H-2 Freeway near Ka Uka Boulevard have been left dark for more than a year because of copper thieves.

Losses to copper thefts reported in 2006 and 2007 surpassed $920,000, police have said.

Estimates of the cost to repair damage by copper thieves to state roads exceed $1 million.

DOT officials have said they are considering replacing the wire with aluminum, which has a much lower resale value.