The Pretoria North police were on Thursday apparently still unaware of copper thieves said to have been seen brazenly burning the plastic off copper wiring in broad daylight in a busy street in an industrial area in the north of Pretoria.
“Offhand, I have no knowledge of this. You would need to give me a case number. Only then would I be able to give information on this,” said Pretoria North police spokesperson Rebecca Phatlane.
Democratic Alliance (DA) ward councillor Danna Wannenburg said recently the culprits were selling their final product openly to a nearby scrap metal dealer.
A member of the Sector Police Forum of Pretoria North saw how plastic was burnt off cables by cable thieves at the side of Koos de la Ray Street in the north of Pretoria. The Sector Police member immediately alerted Wannenburg as well as the Pretoria North police. Neither parties arrived in time to catch the culprits.
Efforts to find witnesses were also in vain. According to Wannenburg, police seized a bag containing copper cables that was clearly hurled over a fence before their arrival.
Wannenburg said shortly after he and the police left the scene, they received another call from the same person, claiming that she witnessed the thieves taking out another bag of cables from a manhole.
Wannenburg and members of the police rushed back to the scene but was once again too late to catch the thieves.
Wannenburg said the police confiscated the cables again and tried to find witnesses, but were unsuccessful.
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