Illegal scrapyard owner and three others arrested for possession of R2,3 Million worth of stolen copper

High-density Operation Shanela which was officially launched on Saturday, 19 August 2023 in Durban has produced desired results when four people, including an illegal scrapyard owner were arrested in Isipingo on Saturday.

Within a few hours after the official launch of the High Density Operation Shanela, members of the Economic Infrastructure Task Team (EITT) gathered intelligence about copper cables which were stored in a cold storage at a truck warehouse in Isipingo. The intelligence was operationalised and upon arrival, officers discovered that an illegal scrapyard was in operation. A search inside the yard resulted in the recovery of copper cables and bus bars amounting to an estimated value of R2.3 million.

With the owner failing to account for the illegal copper cables and the bus bars stored in his yard, he and other three people who were working at the warehouse were arrested for possession of suspected stolen property. More charges related to economic sabotage are likely to be added as investigations continue. The arrested suspects will appear in the local magistrate’s court on Monday, 21 August 2023.