Four men arrested for being in possession of copper cables will appear at the Roodepoort Magistrate Court on 11 April. The arrest was a joint effort of the Honeydew Police, the Provincial Police Unit of Fire arms, Liquor and Second Hand Goods, Amehlo Consulting and Quemic Security. “They are expected to appear at the Roodepoort Magistrate Court on Friday 11 April,” said Warrant Officer Karen Jacobs, the spokesperson for the Honeydew station.
Jacobs said the suspects were arrested following a tip-off from the scrap metal owner. The alleged cable thieves apparently went to the Honeydew based scrap metal with the aim of exchanging cables for cash.
“The scrap metal owner told them that he was not sure what kind of cable they had bought and asked them to give him time to check with people who knew cables better,” explained Jacobs.
The scrap metal owner then contacted City Power and Eskom to come and verify if the cables didn’t belong to them before he could buy them from the suspects.
Michael Makhubo who is a forensic investigator for Amehlo Consulting (sub-contracted to City Power and Eskom), said they went there and found that actually, the cables belonged to the two utilities. The forensic investigator explained that it was not difficult to catch the suspects because they had left some information behind. “They were using a branded company vehicle which had all the information, they also left their contact numbers so those were huge leads,” said Makhubo. The cables weighed 265 kg with a monetary value of R19 080. According to Makhubo, the cables were stolen in Dieplsoot and the suspects were arrested at their work place and remain in custody. The four suspects aged between 31 and 26.
