Three suspects nailed for municipal copper theft

Three men have been arrested following the theft of copper from a municipal power unit that left most of Dundee without power three weeks ago.
The theft crippled the power supply and Council Speaker Andile Nsibande took it upon himself to lead the way in an attempt to bring the culprits to book.
“Two suspects were arrested in one of the scrap yards in Dundee, where they had arrived to sell the copper.
One needs to produce an Identity Document to sell copper,” explained Speaker Nsibande. He further explained that the scrap yard employee called the local authorities when he realised that one of the men, who lives in Sithembile, had produced a fake ID to process his sale.
The second suspect was arrested when he tried to sell copper at the same scrap yard. When he realised that ‘the game was up’, he led the authorities to three other suspects who live in Dlamini Village.
Three were officially charged.
The remains of what was electricity cables, tools used to cut the cables, and shovels for digging the trenches to access the cables were discovered in one of the suspect’s homes in Dlamini Village, where two young men and an older man were arrested.
“We would like to urge the community to be ‘anonymous whistle-blowers’ when they suspect that their neighbours are involved in unlawful dealings which affect the entire community of Endumeni,” said senior communications manager Percy Mabilisa.
He added that ‘electricity theft is everyone’s concern, as its impact affects the rest of the community’. He concluded by thanking Speaker Nsibande for his quick response and involvement in the apprehension of these criminals.