Two South African truck drivers employed by Sabot Management Limited were arraigned before the court for allegedly tampering with their vehicles’ satellite-tracking systems and diverting 68 tonnes of copper, valued at US$ 600 000, that was destined for a South African firm.

The two suspects, aged 34 and 36, allegedly left their company’s depot in Harare with consignments of 34 tonnes of copper blister each and were caught after travelling 30 kilometres off their routes. The two suspects Jonathan Chauke (34) and Peter Heins (36) appeared before a local magistrate, Ms Olivia Mariga, on Friday and the case was postponed to May 27. No bail was granted to the accused.

Ms Mariga dismissed the pair’s bail application, after the prosecutor, Mr Allen Masiya, strongly opposed it. According to Masiya, the two, who were driving Sabot’s Volvo haulage trucks, left the Harare depot on May 8, carrying loads of copper blister destined for Access Freight in Johannesburg.

It is the State’s contention that, before the two left the depot, the company’s operations manager, Mr Glenn Millar, had received information that the drivers intended to steal the copper and sell it to a firm in Benoni in South Africa. Millar then communicated with the firm’s security officers in South Africa, so that they would monitor the trucks closely as soon as they crossed into South Africa.

Instead of seeking a security escort from Musina, as was the practice at Sabot, it is alleged the drivers flouted the procedure and tampered with the satellite-tracking system before driving towards Benoni, some 30km away from their destination.

The trucks were then spotted by a Sabot employee in South Africa, who became suspicious and phoned the Harare office.

Working on the tip-off, a team comprising South African police and Sabot security officers made a follow-up and caught the drivers parked at Vosa Company warehouse in Benoni.

Apparently they had called their office, alleging that some unidentified criminals had hijacked the vehicles.

The team of police officers and security personnel lured the two to the border, where detectives at Beit Bridge arrested them.