BLOEMFONTEIN – A 47-year-old truck driver arrested in connection with allegedly stolen copper cables, is expected to appear in the Bloemfontein Magistrates’ Court today – Monday 15 June. He was apprehended last Friday after police acted promptly on intelligence received. The police in Bloemfontein confirmed that both Centlec and Telkom positively identified the electrical equipment as their property.

Lt Col Thabo Covane, spokesperson for the Free State police, said that massive quantities of copper cables were concealed under large quantities of recyclable materials loaded on a white Volvo FH horse-and-trailer truck. They had been burned and stripped to eliminate company-specific markings. Covane said the truck was intercepted on the N1 near Glen, en route to Johannesburg. He said experts and investigators of Centlec, Telkom and Eskom were called to identify the essential infrastructure components. The identification process continued at the Bainsvlei Police Station on Saturday, where there was enough space to unload the goods.

“Altogether, nine large bags of essential infrastructure components were seized from the truck. Telkom identified 40 kg of its property with a replacement value estimated at R4 500, while Centlec identified 5 760 kg of recovered essential infrastructure, at an estimated replacement value of R3 million,” said Covane. “The Centlec supervisor placed at the Engineering Wires Section helped the police to identify 35 mm copper cable, Air-dac and HT cable insulation from the recovered components,” he added.

Covane said a docket was opened at the Glen Police Station for further investigation, adding that the suspect faces a charge of possession of allegedly stolen essential infrastructure.

“Copper cable theft deprives law-abiding citizens of their livelihood. It is the responsibility of both private stakeholders and public role players, including the public, to halt the damage to and destruction of essential infrastructure,” said Lt Gen. Solomon Lesia, the provincial commissioner.