PRETORIA - A scrapyard owner in Pretoria was on Wednesday arrested for possession of stolen cables belonging to the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (Prasa).
"Two suspects were followed by Prasa Protection Services officials into a scrapyard opposite Belle Ombré Station [near Pretoria central] where they tried to sell off stolen cables. Catenary and contact overhead wires estimated at R50,000 were discovered," said Gauteng Metrorail spokesperson Lillian Mofokeng.
"This week alone Saulsville, Pienaarsport, Ga-Rankuwa and Pretoria-Johannesburg trains were negatively affected due to cable theft. Metrorail condemns in the possible strongest terms the theft of infrastructure components. The impact of cable theft has a major impact on the train service, commuters and the economy of the province."
Mofokeng called on community members to report any suspicious criminal activities to Metrorail Protection Services on 011 013 0051/0052 or any nearest South African Police Service police station.