They stole the cables from the public entity’s exchange, located at the corner of Commissioner and President Brand streets, Boksburg South.
According to the Boksburg SAPS’s Sgt Cebisa Maseko, the perpetrators were found inside the manhole, hacksawing the underground copper cable, while using a manually operated chain block to pull it out of the hole.
Three more men, driving in a white Toyota Quantum kombi (a taxi) arrived, apparently to collect the loot.
They were subsequently arrested and their vehicle was seized.
The cable they had already cut was taken to the Boksburg Police Station and its estimated value is R54 000.
The eight were charged with theft and are expected to appear in court soon.
It also emerged that three of the suspects were previously arrested for a similar offence in the Germiston area.
Whether the eight men were acting alone or they are part of a wider syndicate within the ailing public entity, remains unknown, however, police suspect masterminds behind the theft of Telkom cables in the area.
Maseko said cable theft used to be rife within their policing precinct, but that, in the past couple of months they have only seen intermittent incidents of this crime. – @FanieFLK
