Louis Trichardt police arrested seven suspects in the early hours of Friday, June 13, who were in possession of copper wire they could not account for. All the suspects are Zimbabweans and include two women.

According local police spokesperson, Capt Maano Sadiki, the ages of the arrested suspects vary between 18 and 50 years. The police apparently received some information that led to a breakthrough, which resulted in the arrests. The suspects were travelling in a Quantum along the N1 from Musina to Louis Trichardt. At the time of their arrest, the suspects were in possession of 24 bags full of copper wire. They will appear in court soon.

Copper cable theft has been in the news regularly over the last months. Just this weekend, copper cables were stolen from the Albasini Dam supply line, leading to a 20-hour backlog in the water supply to town. On top of that, a transformer was stolen at the municipal boreholes that supply water to another part of town. The thieves dislodged it from the poles on which it was standing, after which they removed the whole transformer form the premises. Altogether 52m of cable were stolen. This particular kind of cable costs between R1 800 and R2 000 per meter, while the transformer can cost upwards of R25 000.

In view of the recent budget announcement made by the mayor, Cllr Glory Mashaba, in which the losses suffered by the municipality up to date have totalled more than R2 million rand, this latest theft does not bode well for the rest of the year. Many residents feel the time is right for the municipality to impose stricter security measures at vulnerable points constantly targeted by copper thieves.