Five suspects will appear in court today (Monday 20 October) after they were arrested last week for bribery and possession of stolen copper cables.
On Friday morning the K9 police unit received information of a second-hand dealer in Robertville, Florida being in possession of suspected stolen copper cables. The police acted upon the information and went to the address.
Eskom and City Power officials also were on scene and positively identified the cables as municipal property, says Florida police spokesperson Lydia Dikolomela in a press statement. According to the official South African Police Service (SAPS) twitter account, the suspects were caught with 505 kilogram of suspected stolen copper cables, estimated to be worth R100 000.
“Five suspects were arrested on scene,” Dikolomela says, adding that “four of them are employees and one is the owner of the dealership.
“The owner allegedly tried to bribe the police and offered them R30 000 in cash to avoid arrest,” she says.
Dikolomela says that the owner will face a charges of bribery and possession of suspected stolen goods. According to official tweets the cash was seized as evidence. The other four suspects, aged between 37 and 53, will face charges of possession of suspected stolen goods.
“They have been detained in police cells and will appear in the Roodepoort Magistrate’s Court,” Dikolomela says.
