Sixteen people were arrested over the past two days in the city. Mr Jacques Meiring of Bossies Community Justice said Hi-Tech Security had apprehended five suspects on Monday in connection with copper theft.
Then on Tuesday, three men were nabbed as illegal immigrants and eight more for suspected housebreaking.
“On Monday Hi-Tech received a tip-off that some men were trying to sell copper cable.”
Meiring said security spotted the alleged thieves in a Nissan Navarro at the bottom of Bester Street.
“I arrived at the scene where I assisted in questioning them.”
He said one of them said he had apparently bought the cable from a friend of his who worked for Eskom. Yet security on the scene estimated the cable to be weigh 150 to 200 kilograms. He said the vehicle was also seized. Meiring said he suspected the cable could possibly have been stolen from Telkom.
“The 11 suspects we arrested on Tuesday were apprehended in the industrial area near Buscor.” He said three of the men were illegal immigrants from Mozambique while another eight were taken in for fingerprint identification as they were suspected of being linked to various burglaries in Nelspruit over recent months.
