Man denies role in copper theft

Cape Town-140416. The City of Cape Town's Metal Theft Unit carried out a few raids or operations in various parts of the peninsula today. These youths were apprehended near the N2 for melting the plastic from the copper wire and were asked to put out the fire. The leader was then fined for causing air pollution.This wire was not confiscated. reporter: Chelsea Geach. Photo: jason boud

Cape Town-140416. The City of Cape Town's Metal Theft Unit carried out a few raids or operations in various parts of the peninsula today. These youths were apprehended near the N2 for melting the plastic from the copper wire and were asked to put out the fire. The leader was then fined for causing air pollution.This wire was not confiscated. reporter: Chelsea Geach. Photo: jason boud

Published Jan 21, 2015

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Pietermaritzburg - A foreign national alleged to be part of a copper cable theft syndicate pleaded not guilty to five charges against him in the Pietermaritzburg Regional Court on Tuesday.

Joseph Zito Bila, 26, is charged with theft, malicious injury to property, money laundering, escaping from lawful custody and contravention of the immigration act.

His nationality is unknown.

Bila is alleged to be part of a syndicate involved in the theft of copper cables and conductors from Transnet and Eskom in KwaZulu-Natal.

His trial was separated from his 25 co-accused because he is charged with only five offences.

The charge sheet of his co-accused reflects 189 charges in total.

The charges of theft, malicious damage to property and money laundering against Bila relate to an incident in August 2012.

In her opening address to the court, prosecutor Annelize Harrison said that copper cable theft in 2012 increased dramatically in KZN, resulting in Transnet employing private security company, Combined Private Investigations (CPI), to assist with patrolling hot-spot areas and investigating the theft of copper.

On August 29, 2012, the CPI became aware of a theft of copper in Balgowan.

“They identified a suspicious GWM bakkie. When the driver of the bakkie realised they were being pursued, he jumped out of the moving vehicle,” Harrison said.

CPI members apprehended the driver and then searched the bakkie.

The bin of the bakkie was covered with a canvas tarpaulin.

When CPI members lifted the canvas, they discovered five suspects lying on top of rolls of copper conductor as well as various tools used to cut copper. The five were arrested with the driver.

The 500m of overhead copper conductor, valued at R439 064, was cut into small pieces and then rolled into smaller rolls to disguise the nature of the stolen property.

Some of the copper cable was also hidden in vegetation and some was moved at night.

Bila is also charged with escaping from lawful custody.

Harrison explained that after Bila’s arrest on August 29, 2012, he appeared in court two days later and was remanded in custody to the Nottingham Road police station.

On September 2, he and five others escaped from the Nottingham Road police cells by breaking through the roof of the cell.

Bila’s trial continues on Wednesday.

In affidavits to the court, police described how the Midlands and the coast had been plagued by months of mayhem and outages due to cable thefts.

Investigators revealed that in 2013 alone, 86 crime scenes were recorded in KZN.

The syndicate’s trial will start in June.

All the accused are in custody, except for one – Bashir Rashid – the owner of Afro Metals, a scrap metal dealership with branches in KwaDukuza (Stanger) and Phoenix in Durban.

Rashid, who is allegedly being fingered as a major role-player in the syndicate, is on bail of R500 000.

Daily News

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