Copper cable thieves in US$15 000 heist

By Nelias Shiri

Sunninghill residents woke up without electricity on Tuesday morning after thieves stole overhead copper cables worth an estimated US$15 000.

Bulawayo has of late been hit by a series of power outages mostly due to copper cables theft, with suburbs such as Hillside, Burnside and Kensington being the worst affected.

The Zimbabwe Electricity Transmission and Distribution Company (ZETDC) is now in the process of replacing the stolen copper cables .

Bulawayo police spokesperson Inspector Abednico Ncube confirmed the incident that occurred on Monday night.

“Police are carrying out investigations of unknown suspected persons who allegedly used an unknown object to cut and steal 250 metres by 35 millimetres overhead copper cables and disappeared,” said Insp Ncube.

The total value of the stolen property is estimated at US$15 000 and nothing has been recovered.

A report was made on Tuesday and police and ZETDC attended the scene.

Insp Ncube said on the same day Entumbane residents reported at Entumbane police station that some copper cables were found hanging on a guava tree.

“Police and ZETDC officials attended the scene and observed that about 50 metres of earth copper cables were cut and stolen from a pole. They also noted that in the same area the unknown accused persons had cut and stolen 100 metres of earth copper cables from a pole. The total value of the stolen earth copper cables is US$3 500 and nothing was recovered,” said Insp Ncube.

In both cases accused persons are on the run and investigations are in progress.

Insp Ncube said police are appealing to anyone with information that may lead to the arrest of the culprits to report at any nearest police station.

“Police invite members of the public with information that may lead to the arrest of the accused persons to contact the nearest police station.

“We would also like to encourage members of the public to keep on working together with the police to create any environment which is crime free,” said Insp Ncube.

Last year, police in Bulawayo arrested two serial copper cable thieves after using sniffer dogs to fish the two men out of a manhole while busy cutting copper cables.

One of the suspects appeared in court and was sentenced to 70 years in jail over the US$20 000 copper theft case. The Chronicle.