Police in Nyanga arrested five people for being in possession of stolen copper cables.
“Theft of non-ferrous metal is cause for concern for the Western Cape police and we have stepped up our operations to curb this phenomena,” Lieutenant-Colonel Andrè Traut said.
He says on Friday, “five suspects felt the heat of our operations” when they were apprehended in Nyanga with a substantial quantity of copper cables of which the value was yet to be determined.
Police reacted to a tip-off from the community who witnessed the suspects digging trenches and arrested the suspects four men and one woman aged between 24 and 28 while they were trying to make a getaway in their Toyota Avanza.
The suspects are expected to appear in the Athlone Magistrate's Court on Monday on a charge of possession of suspected stolen property.