AN illegal scrapyard owner and three others were arrested for possession of R2.3m worth of stolen copper in Isipingo on August 19.
KZN police spokesperson Colonel Robert Netshiunda said that Operation Shanela, which officially launched on Saturday in Durban, had produced desired results when four people, including an illegal scrapyard owner, were arrested in Isipingo.
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“A few hours after the official launch of the high-density Operation Shanela, members of the Economic Infrastructure Task Team (EITT) gathered intelligence about copper cables which were stored in a cold storage container at a truck warehouse in the area,” he said.
Netshiunda said the intelligence was operationalised, and upon arrival, officers discovered that an illegal scrapyard was in operation. “A search inside the yard resulted in the recovery of copper cables and bus bars amounting to an estimated value of R2.3 million,” he said.
Netshiunda said with the owner failing to account for the illegal copper cables and the bus bars stored in his yard, he and three other people who were working at the warehouse were arrested for possession of suspected stolen property.
“More charges related to economic sabotage are likely to be added as investigations continue,” he said.
The arrested suspects will appear in the local magistrate’s court today, August 21.
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