The Buffalo City Metro announced that nine suspected cable thieves have been arrested and an illegal scrapyard shut down. The arrests follow an operation by metro law enforcement, working alongside the police, with East London and Bhisho identified as hotspots. A weekend raid led to the recovery of 40kg of copper cable and other suspected stolen items, with one woman allegedly caught red-handed attempting to sell stolen property to a scrapyard.
A vacant home in Bhisho, believed to be used by a cable theft syndicate, was also raided. Five more suspects, whose identities are known to law enforcement, are also being sought. The recent arrests and crackdown on cable theft show progress in fighting a crime that has for years plagued communities, but it is just the tip of the iceberg.
Every year, the metro loses millions of rand replacing cables that have been plundered by thieves. It’s not only a financial drain on the city but disrupts vital services such as electricity supply to homes and businesses. Amalinda and nearby suburbs know the pain of outages caused by cable thieves all too well.
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Families there recently suffered power outages lasting up to 48 hours. The outages started just before Christmas and continued into the new year. The timing was especially frustrating for affected households that had family members visiting for the holidays.
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