Ivory Park Police arrested a 42-year-old man in Kaalfontein on 26 March for possession of stolen property and tampering with essential infrastructure.
According to the Ivory Park Police Station spokesperson, Captain Bernard Matimulane, the man was found in possession of two Eskom transformers, one of which was fully and illegally connected to the grid from where he was supplying more than a hundred households at an informal settlement.
He added that the suspect was arrested during Operation Shutdown, comprising of several units of the South African Police Service, the Johannesburg Metro Police Department and Eskom.
Brigadier David Mbongeni Ngcobo, station commander at the Ivory Park Police Station, hailed the arrest as a success for the police and, to a large extent, the people of the area as they have been victims of power cuts due to tampering with essential infrastructure.
“It is satisfying that Operation Shutdown has resulted in this arrest and, hopefully, other people involved in illegally piggybacking on the utility’s infrastructure will take note and cease,” concluded Ngcobo.
Matimulane said that an Eskom technician working with the police during Operation Shutdown further appealed to the community to assist by anonymously reporting those who are illegally connecting to the grid, as this affected supply and caused a lot of power cuts.
He added that the suspect, while being the highlight of the operation, was not the only person that morning to have been arrested. “In the same operation, the police managed to arrest an additional 16 suspects – 12 for being in the country illegally, one for dealing in drugs, one for possession of drugs and the other two for assault with intent to do grievous bodily harm.”
He concluded, “All of these suspects will appear in the Tembisa Magistrates Court soon to face all of the charges levelled against them.”
Details: Eskom hotline 08600 37566; Ivory Park Police Station 011 990 9600.
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