Johannesburg Mayor tweeted his pride in two JMPD cops that refused a bribe of 10k after apprehending scrapyard owners in possession of stolen copper wire.
An area in the inner city of Johannesburg was plunged into darkness after cable thieves made away with copper cables. A Forensic Investigation team including the JMDP, City Power engineers and the SAPS arrested two scrapyard owners after finding three barrels of stolen wire.
The arrests were made after a member of the public sent in a tip off to the Forensic Investigation team. One of the scrapyard owners attempted to bribe two of the JMPD officers with R10,000 but failed. The officers could not be swayed and seized the funds. Joburg Mayor tweeted his pride in the two officers.
“I am immensely proud of this 2 JMPD officers who turned down a R10k bribe” – Herman Mashaba
Joburg City Power have started making changes to the power supply across the city. These changes will prevent cable theft syndicates from ruining the city.
“In an effort to combat cable theft, City Power has initiated a process of replacing copper conductor cables with aluminum conductor cables. Criminals target copper cables by digging it up to sell to scrap metal dealers, but aluminum has little to no street value.”
Historically these criminals have operated with impunity, and those days are fact coming to an end.
Well done @CityofJoburgZA @JMPDSafety @HermanMashaba on the copper cable theft breakthrough. Charge the culprits for sabotage also! pic.twitter.com/DH3zADRi4s
— Yusuf Abramjee (@Abramjee) September 5, 2017
I have informed @MbalulaFikile & Lt General De Lange about this shameless looting of our city's infrastructure pic.twitter.com/ZRmcV5Huch
— Herman Mashaba (@HermanMashaba) September 5, 2017