A copper wire thief has to ‘face the music’ in court after Elandslaagte police officers pounced while he was in the process of selling the copper to a scrap metal dealer.
Police said that information had been received that a 34-year-old man had stolen the copper cabling in the rural Matiwaneskop area. Officers arrested him as he attempted to flee from the scrapyard.
An employee of the scrap metal dealer, who bought the stolen copper, has also been implicated. The copper thief has been linked to four other cases of cable theft, as well as two burglaries in the Elandslaagte area. The suspects appeared in the Ladysmith Magistrate’s Court this week.