Team arrests cable thieves in Sundra area
Five foreign nationals were arrested for trying to steal overhead cables belonging to Transnet.
The Delmas Magistrate’s Court postponed a case against five men who recently tried to steal overhead cables valued at R3m in the Sundra area.
The Hawks Serious Organised Crime Investigation from Middelburg apprehended the suspects on September 10.
The arrests followed a tip-off Transnet received about a planned theft of the Transnet overhead cables in the Delmas area.
A team comprising the Hawks, Transnet investigators, the Local Criminal Record Centre and Amahlo Solution conducted an intelligence-driven disruptive operation and they found the five foreigners cutting the Transnet overhead cables.
They arrested the suspects, and the exhibits, which included overhead cables valued at R3m, a bolt cutter and an Isuzu bakkie valued at R150 000, were seized for further investigation.
Joshua Mavia Mapendani (34), Sizwe Rinze Masasane (27), Themba Swele (27) and Lino Matchave (23), as well as a youth who claims to be 14-years-old, appeared before the Delmas Magistrate’s Court on September 12 and 13 on charges of damaging of essential infrastructure.
The case was postponed to September 20 for bail application.
