Wentworth officers praised for successful cable theft arrest

WENTWORTH police officers, W/O Alvin Nair and Constable Natasha Mei have been lauded for making headway on a crime that has been a great pain for the communities of Merebank, Wentworth and Jacobs.

The pair successfully secured an arrest for cable theft when they caught a suspect red-handed in the Merebank area last week.

“Myself and Constable Mei were on patrol when we received a call on the radio about suspicious activity at an electrical power box on Himalayas Road, Merebank. We were tipped off by SS Towing, who were in the area. We arrived at the scene and gave chase until we caught the suspect. With assistance from Volt Security, we returned to the crime scene along with a sack which the suspect had dropped during the chase. We searched him and inspected the contents in the sack, which we found matched the cables cut from the power box and we made the arrest. Thanks must also be mentioned to our local security forces who played a key role making this arrest,” explained Nair.

He shared that the community had been looking for criminals relating to this crime. “These criminals have been stealing cables from electrical power boxes and transformers which in turn causes an electrical surge that runs through surrounding houses. This surge is very dangerous and blows up electrical appliances such as Tvs and microwaves. I myself was one of the victims when my fridge packed up recently.

“These criminals know exactly what they’re doing. They break into the power boxes, pull the cable and cut it off to sell for small change, probably no more than R300, which however, costs the community so much damage.” He added that the issue has been ongoing from the beginning of the year is glad to have made some headway on tackling this crime.

He urges the community to be vigilant at all times, to request the credentials of persons who claim to work for the municipality or other official departments as well as report illegal and suspicious activities to the police. To report crimes call Wentworth SAPS on 031-451-6241.  

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