The Bloemfontein Hawks’ Serious Organised Crime Investigation team made a breakthrough in the rampant copper cable theft after discovering Eskom infrastructure property on a plot farm outside Bloemfontein. A full-scale investigation is ongoing to bring the suspects to book.
Lt Col Zweli Mohobeleli, provincial spokesperson for the Hawks, says Eskom officials have positively identified this range of property as belonging to the entity. He says a Hawks-led joint team discovered the property during an operation conducted on Tuesday, 20 May. The team comprised the police’s Tactical Response Team (TRT), Firearms, Liquor and Second-Hand Goods (FLASH) unit, Local Criminal Record Center (LCRC), Eskom, and Centlec.
“The Hawks’ Serious Organised Crime Investigation detectives approached the court for a search warrant after learning about a warehouse on the plot where the loot was stored. Upon searching the premises, they found different voltage transformers, rolls of copper cable, and several loose items which include electricity meter boxes. The recovered, suspected stolen Eskom property is worth R9 million.”
Lt Col Zweli Mohobeleli, Free State spokesperson for the Hawks
Major Gen. Mokgadi Bokaba, provincial head of the Hawks, has vowed that the elite crime fighting wing will do everything possible to find the syndicate. “We will leave no stone unturned in ensuring the protection of essential infrastructure.”
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