Eight who allegedly stole copper cables and caused major water shortages, to appear in court

15 November 2014 - 18:13 By Sapa
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Copper cable. File photo.
Copper cable. File photo.
Image: Gallo Images/Thinkstock

Eight people, including four people employed by a City Power contractor, are expected to appear in court next week in connection with the theft of copper cable, Gauteng police said on Saturday.

"They will appear in the Johannesburg Magistrate's Court," said Constable Michael Kgatle.

"They will be appearing on Monday."

Johannesburg City Power said on Friday the eight were arrested for the copper cable theft, which caused disruption of water supply for parts of Gauteng in September.

"The SA Police Service and City Power are on a manhunt for other members of the syndicate, who are at large," said spokesman Hloni Motloung in a statement at the time.

Acting on a tip-off by a scrap dealer, City Power investigators found four of the men with 120kg of copper, worth R8435, in Eikenhof, south of Johannesburg, on Thursday.

They pointed out their cable theft hot spots, took investigators to the place where they stripped the cables, and implicated the four contractor employees in the thefts, said Motloung.

They claimed the contractor's employees gave them information about areas and equipment they could target.

All eight would appear on charges of theft and damage to property.

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