Seven nabbed in Florida for theft of R1,5 million worth of power cable
Police discovered that there were cables already on a truck and more cables as well as a transformer were still to be loaded.
Residents will agree that cable theft hurts the whole community and that it has now become worse. The entire country is experiencing a rapid increase in this act of criminality.
It affects everyone as it has an impact on the delivery of crucial services, primarily the supply of electricity, and the provision public transport, and telephone and internet services.
On Saturday, June 11 at about 14:00 the Johannesburg Flying Squad received information about a truck loading cables at a business premises in Florida.
The team was mobilised swiftly and suspects were cornered on the premises.
Police discovered that there were cables already on a truck and more cables as well as a transformer were still to be loaded.
Further investigations indicated that the thugs had rented a truck with a crane to load the cables and transformer, and it was seized for being used in a crime.
Seven suspects that included five Zimbabwean nationals, one Mozambican and a South African were arrested while R1,5 million worth of cable and a transformer worth R400 000 were recovered.
Colonel Amos Tsotetsi from the Florida police station confirmed that a case was opened and that the suspects will appear in court soon.
According to City Power spokesperson Isaac Mangena, power outages, often caused by cable theft, can lead to an increase in crime as properties are more vulnerable.
“It also results in high costs to replace or repair cables stolen or damaged by thieves; it further diverts resources that could have been utilised better elsewhere.
“Worst of all, however, is the potential loss of innocent lives due to electrocution, or fires as a result of exposed cables,” said Mangena.
