Four suspects have been arrested after the City of Johannesburg’s data centre in Braamfontein had been broken into on 11 November.
The criminals made off with copper cables worth about R2 million, prompting the City to offer a R100 000 reward for information.
The four suspects were found in possession of tools allegedly used during the break-in. One of the suspects was arrested in Olievenhoutbosch by the police working with the City’s Group Forensic Investigation Department and the Metro police. Mayor Herman Mashaba said his co-accused were apprehended last week. They all appeared in the Hillbrow Magistrate’s Court and were denied bail.
“The arrests are a result of a tip-off received from a member of the public regarding the theft,” said Mashaba. “The investigation is still ongoing and more arrests are imminent.”
This was the second time the City was faced with major copper cable theft. In early September, parts of the inner-city were plunged into darkness for 11 days after copper cables were stolen. The cables were later found in a scrapyard packed in drums. In November, City Power infrastructure material worth about R80 million that had been stolen was seized.
The mayor believes that the break-in was an inside job since there were no signs of forced entry. The copper cables have since been recovered. “This valuable infrastructure was sold for R20 000. The City spends about R60 million a year replacing stolen cables.”
The City is currently in the process of building its R35 million data centre and disaster recovery centre.
“We are investing in the protection of our citizen’s information, while ensuring that we build capacity internally, with the aim of hosting our data infrastructure while minimising our dependency on suppliers to host our infrastructure.”
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