Eskom General manager for security, Advocate Karen Pillay has thanked law enforcement authorities for responding swiftly, to the serious scourge of infrastructure crime that is affecting the already ailing power system.
The Hawks have arrested an Eskom employee for allegedly stealing ten drums of hydraulic oil from a storage facility at the Tutuka power station in Mpumalanga.
The stolen drums are valued at R800 000.
Eskom says the employee was arrested on Monday following an extensive internal investigation. The accused has appeared in the Standerton Magistrate’s Court on Wednesday and has been remanded in custody pending the outcome of his bail application.
In another matter, three employees have been arrested for allegedly stealing copper cables at the power utility’s Matla power station also in Mpumalanga.
Eskom says the suspects were put under surveillance by investigators who pounced on them as they were attempting to remove the copper cables from where they had hidden them.
The @SAPoliceService #Hawks have arrested around 46 suspects for their alleged role in #Fueltheft in the last three months through multi-disciplinary approach operations by the #SAPA elite crime fighting unit. https://t.co/RP9BubN1R7
— Lirandzu Themba (@LirandzuThemba) October 19, 2022
The Hawks pounced on the suspect shortly after leaving the SARS offices in Brooklyn Pretoria where he had been summoned to address tax-related matters.
The arrest follows that of his two employees over the weekend in possession of a large consignment of allegedly stolen petrol.
Suspected kingpin of petrol looting syndicate nabbed in Hawks raid:
Eskom General manager for security, Adv Pillay has thanked law enforcement authorities for responding swiftly to the serious scourge of infrastructure crime that is affecting the already ailing system. –Reporting by Eva Chipa