Two men have been arrested in Bulawayo after they were found in possession of at least 20kg of copper cables at their workshop in Kelvin West.
The arrest comes shortly after the police carried out a campaign raising awareness on the theft of copper cables in the city last week.
Mandlenkosi Hongwane (33) of New Magwegwe and Danisa Matema (45) of Pumula South were arrested last Friday.
Bulawayo Police Spokesperson, Inspector Abednico Ncube, confirmed the arrest.
“Following the police operation and campaigns on the theft of copper cables, information was received that the accused persons were dealing in copper and scrap metal at Covenant Investment in Kelvin West, Bulawayo. The police officers acted on the information and managed to locate the accused persons. They searched the business premises and recovered some copper windings, transformer windings, and some copper scraps stashed in a 20kg sack hidden under the bed of a Scania truck horse,” Insp Ncube said.
“This is against a background of continuous theft of copper cables which is now even occurring in the CBD. ZETDC officers positively identified the recovered armoured copper cables as their underground electricity distribution cables and transformer windings.”
Meanwhile, three men from Umguza were arrested on Sunday for allegedly stealing five beasts from Chesa Forest Farm, Village 3, Umguza.
Inspector Ncube said when the arrest was made, the three had already slaughtered three of the five cattle and the other two were still alive but had deep cuts.
Sifelani Maphosa (52), Oscar Nyathi (21), and Junior Dube (20) all from Chesa Forest, were apprehended after police received a tip-off that they had been spotted slaughtering cattle in the forest.
“On February 9, 2024, at around 1600 hours, the complainant from Pumula South, Bulawayo, was notified by his father that his five cattle were missing from the grazing area of Chesa Forest Farm. He made a follow-up after receiving a tip-off to the effect that the accused persons were seen slaughtering the beasts in the forest,” Insp Ncube said.
“He managed to locate two of his cattle lying on the ground, with deep cut wounds on the necks but still alive. There was a tail of one of his slaughtered cows and some intestines scattered on the ground near the area where the injured cattle were. The accused persons killed three beasts took the meat and went away leaving intestines.”
