Two men were arrested near Hilton in KwaZulu-Natal last week on charges related to copper theft.
The arrests took place after a member of Eskom’s investigation team noticed a disturbance at a nearby farm fence and decided to keep an eye on the scene, said Eskom in a media statement on Wednesday.
“Later that night, the Eskom investigator who had been joined by his team at the scene, noticed a group of four men climbing over the same broken fence.”
Upon searching the area, they said, the team discovered that a 200m overhead copper conductor had been cut and stolen opposite St. Joseph School, on a farm in Cedara, near Hilton.
“While awaiting members of the investigation team who had proceeded to the farm where they suspected the theft to have occurred, the same group of four men who had been seen climbing the fence earlier were spotted between the Eskom towers rolling and carrying material from one point to the next.”
The suspects, they said, later placed the rolls of cable outside the farm, in the bush close to the R103 road for pick up.
“The suspects proceeded in the direction of the Eskom investigation team, and when close enough, the team managed to successfully apprehend one of the four suspects.”
The team gave chase and managed to apprehend the second suspect near the Cedara train station.
“The two suspects were handed over to the Hilton SAPS.
The stolen material together with two backpacks containing clothes, two hack saw blades, three gloves, and a piece of wire, all found in possession of the suspects, were also handed over to the SAPS and a case of damage to essential infrastructure was opened.”