Pretoria - A couple, a former Eskom employee and an ex-cop, were arrested together with two accomplices for allegedly stealing copper cables worth over R300 000 in Bredasdorp, in the Western Cape.
The arrests come after police received information about possible copper cable theft in the town.
Police found rolls of Eskom copper cables weighing 840kg and 624kg respectively.
“The copper cables were found in the possession of an ex-employee of Eskom, who was a senior supervisor in charge of the Bredasdorp Customer Network Centre. Her husband, who is an ex-police officer, is an accomplice in the matter,” said Hawks spokesperson Zinzi Hani.
Hani added that a preliminary investigation by the Hawks revealed that the copper cables were stolen from the Eskom Customer Network Centre in Bredasdorp. Further investigation revealed that the suspects started selling the stolen copper cables to the local scrapyard in April 2021.
The four suspects, aged between 41 and 51, are expected to appear in the Bredasdorp Magistrate’s Court on Thursday. They are facing charges of fraud and theft.
In June, The Mercury reported that 15 suspects were arrested after they were found in possession of several kilograms of stolen copper blister.
In that matter, Shaheen Suleiman, owner of Magma Security, said security officers were patrolling the Swartkop Forest in the KwaZulu-Natal Midlands when they saw a bakkie parked in the forest.
They came across men loading copper blisters, with an estimated weight of 600kg, onto a trailer.
IOL