Eskom has welcomed the arrest of three suspects who stole cable drums worth over R1 million from one of the power utility’s offices in the North West province.
The power utility said, in a statement on Thursday (October 31), that police arrested suspects in Pretoria in connection with the theft of 16 drums of cable belonging to Eskom on October 7.
According to Eskom, the arrests follow an armed robbery at the Wolmaransstad Customer Network Centre (CNC) in Klerksdorp.
“During the incident, unknown armed suspects entered the CNC, at 12:56, and loaded 16 drums of Eskom cable, valued at R1 051 530, onto trucks and fled the scene.”
The three suspects appeared in the Wolmaransstad Magistrates Court yesterday (October 30). The two trucks involved in the crime have been confiscated from the owner and will be presented as evidence.
“Eskom commends the tireless and exceptional investigative work by the SAPS head office detective team, which led to the arrests of the suspects. We hope the suspects face the full might of the law and believe they may be linked to several other similar armed robberies committed recently at other Eskom CNCs,” the power utility said.
“We are committed to safeguarding the security and integrity of our critical infrastructure.”
Eskom said ongoing collaboration between its internal security investigations team and law enforcement agencies, co-ordinated by the National Energy Crisis Committee’s Safety and Security Priority Committee, continues to yield “significant positive results” in combatting crime and corruption.
Eskom urges the public to report any unlawful activities – including armed robberies, illegal electricity sales and fraud as well as theft of coal, fuel oil and diesel and critical and essential infrastructure crimes – on the anonymous Eskom Crime Line: 0800 11 27 22 or WhatsApp: 081 333 3323.
