S.Africa: Creative Criminals steal electricity transformer

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TWO men posing as City Power employees broke into the power utility’s transformer substation and stole a transformer worth R600 000 in Selby, south of Joburg.

The theft of the transformer plunged the area into darkness for at least three days.

City Power’s Isaac Mangena said the theft happened on February 2, “when at least two criminals broke into one of our transformer chambers at Village Deep, Johannesburg, and stole a transformer”.

At the time of the theft, there was outage in the area and the suspects took advantage of this, Mangena said.

“They brought a crane truck in the daylight and removed the transformer.

“According to witnesses, the suspects told nearby business people that the transformer was faulty and was being taken to City Power for repairs.

“A vigilant customer took photos of the truck and the two suspect and shared same with City Power Security Risk Management the following day.

“By then it was too late because the suspects had already left the scene of crime. This left the area without power for at least three days,” he said.

The general manager of Security Risk Management, Sergeant Thela, said a preliminary analysis showed that the incident was an organised crime and that the suspects had the help of insiders.

"Firstly, a commercial vehicle bearing a sticker of City Power contractor visited the scene – as a form of criminal reconnaissance. Later on, a crane truck bearing a false registration number came and removed the transformer on the pretext that it was been taken for repairs. This is shocking. We need help to identify the suspects so that they can be arrested."

Source: https://www.iol.co.za/news/suspects-pretending-to-be-city-power-staff-steal-transformer-worth-r600k-2c4c5639-806d-4494-b6ce-532db088faa1

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