City Power security officers were shot and injured in the Eikenhof area on the night of June 19.
The two security officers were doing their regular patrols in the bushes near Eikenhof Substation when they were ambushed by an unknown number of suspected cable thieves who came from nowhere and started shooting.
City Power spokesperson Isaac Mangena said a shoot-out ensued, with the two security officers clearly outgunned and one of the security officers was shot and taken to Milpark Hospital.
“The area of Eikenhof is the hardest hit as the cable theft hotspot. This is partly due to the vast open bushy spaces where our cables supplying Naturena, Kibler Park, among others, run. The shooting is proof that the cable thieves are being brazen and dangerous. We are no longer dealing with common criminals but well-resourced individuals.
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“City Power has called on the SAPS to do more to assist our security response to cable theft and vandalism. This should include regular patrols and raids in identified areas as hotspots,” he said.
A case of attempted murder, tampering and attempted theft of essential infrastructure has been opened with the police.
In the meantime, 18 cases of vandalism and theft of cables, fuses, breakers, were reported between Friday and Sunday. One suspect was arrested in Fairlands for being in possession of fuses stolen from a transformer substation in the area.
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