Chronicle Editor
Bongani Ndlovu, Chronicle Reporter
A Bulawayo man has been arrested while his accomplice is on the run after he was caught with telephone cables stuffed in a 50kg sack.
Zimusaka Mwembe (20) from Emganwini was apprehended on Christmas Eve in Nketa allegedly carrying a 50kg sack filled with telephone cables.
His alleged accomplice Ncobeni Muyuzo from Sizinda is still at large.
Bulawayo police spokesperson Inspector Abednico Ncube confirmed the incident.
“They steal anything that is copper and in this case these cables belong to TelOne.
“These are also being targeted by the thieves,” he said.
Insp Ncube said the thieves were caught by a team of neighbourhood watch committee members.
“A team of neighbourhood watch committee was deployed during Christmas Eve, at around 2AM at the turn off to Nketa 8 along Nketa Drive.
“They saw Mwembe carrying a 50kg sack and when they ordered them to stop, the two dropped the sack and ran away. It was discovered that they had stashed copper cables in the 50kg sack,” he said.
“The neighbourhood watch crew gave chase and managed to arrest him.
They caught him hiding at Nketa Primary School grounds, which he had entered as a way to escape.
“However, his accomplice evaded them and is still at large.”
Insp Ncube said Mwembe revealed that there was a man identified only as Green who lives in Mbundane who they sell the cables to.
“During the interview that is when he revealed that Ncobeni lives in Sizinda.
The copper cables they had stolen were to be sold to a man called Green who lives in Mbundane, but is from Sinampande, their rural area,” he added.
“Investigations are in progress as we want to determine how many cases they are connected to. We also want to establish how this Green does his business.”
He commended the neighbourhood patrol team and urged residents to partner police in initiatives to fight crime.
“This is the neighbourhood watch team for Nketa, under Tshabalala police station and they were patrolling their areas, and as police we have been encouraging people to organise themselves like this.
“They were doing this to fight crime and theft of copper cables and this yielded results. So, in 2022, as the police we encourage the community to join hands with the police, stop and search anyone during the night, to fight the theft of copper cables,” said Inspector Ncube.
Standard copper telephone lines are reliable internet connectivity tools via Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line ADSL and Single-pair high-speed digital subscriber line (SHDL) and copper cable thieves disconnect people from the world wide web.
Also disconnected are some households that are still using landline telephones. — @bonganinkunzi
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