A truck driver has been caught with stolen copper cables worth about R500 000 on Tuesday morning.
An anonymous tip-off led to the arrest in the west of Pretoria, said metro spokesperson Selby Bokaba.
“Members of metro police cable theft unit received information last night about a truck carrying stolen copper destined for a known second-hand scrap metal dealer, west of the city.”
Unit members, in a marked police car, flagged down the truck on Van der Hoff Road – only a few metres away from its destination.
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“When the driver saw the cops, he made a quick U-turn and sped off. The police gave chase and forced the truck off the road.”
Bokaba said when police questioned the driver, he said he was delivering a pile of rubbish to a scrap metal dealer.
Upon closer inspection, police found used and new copper cables belonging to the city with a street value of about R500 000.
They were covered by a pile of rubbish.
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Bokaba said the cables were stolen from the vandalised Suiderberg substation last Friday.
The driver had since been arrested.
It would cost the city about R3 million to repair the vandalised substation, Bokaba said.
The metro has stepped up efforts to clamp down on cable theft, which has shown an alarming rise the past few months.
Mayor Solly Msimanga said he was delighted with the latest breakthrough.
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“These cables are part of the infrastructure meant to service our communities for the provision of water and electricity,” he said.
“This infrastructure doesn’t belong to the city, but to the communities.”
“I wish to appeal to our communities to join hands with us to break the backbone of the syndicates wreaking havoc in the city, causing massive power outages and water supply interruptions across the entire city,” Msimanga said.
Tshwane police chief Johanna Nkomo said the metro’s’s cable theft unit would intensify efforts to stop cable theft.
Residents have been urged to report strange activity to the metro police on 012-358-7095/6.
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