Copperheads Nab Railway Thieves with Lightning Speed

In a matter of days, the City of Cape Town's cable theft task team has successfully nailed members of a syndicate involved in the theft of railway equipment which severely 'derailed' Cape Town's rail commuter services on Friday, August 15.

Acting swiftly on a tip-off from a reputable scrap dealer, the team, widely known as the Copperheads, swooped on A L Scrapyard in Woodstock on Friday, arresting the cashier for being in possession of stolen goods.

"Working closely with Metrorail's security contractor, the team also apprehended five other people suspected of ripping out railway clips and tracks to be sold as scrap metal," says Cllr Pieter van Dalen, Chairman of the Copperheads.

About a week ago, Executive Mayor Helen Zille called in the Copperheads to urgently investigate the theft of 1 200 metal pandoral clips which were used to secure railway sleepers on the rail link between Athlone refuse transfer station and the Vissershok landfill site.

"Our investigations led us to believe that there was a syndicate operating in the Woodstock and Athlone area, which we suspected were also involved in the theft of railway electrical equipment, resulting in last Friday's Metrorail disruptions."

"Besides the R48 000 it cost Metrorail to replace 200 meters of copper signalling cable, the theft disrupted hundreds of thousands of commuters, resulting in massive losses to business," says van Dalen.

After making numerous enquiries and acting on valuable tip-offs, the Copperheads arrested the criminals at midday on Friday at A L Scrapyard.

"Some scrap dealers use the excuse that if they don't buy the stolen goods, some other dealer around the corner will do so. My message to the scrap industry is that there is enough money to be made out of legal scrap, so they should not worry about keeping up with the Joneses. The honest traders will sleep better at night, while the unscrupulous dealers will get nailed," says Van Dalen.

In an unrelated incident, Copperheads members who were patrolling substations, which are being targeted by transformer oil thieves, came across a vehicle loaded with undersized crayfish, which is illegal.

"After trying to escape, the three occupants were apprehended and taken to the nearest police station. It was ascertained that they had been evading the police for the past six years in connection with perlemoen smuggling.

"The City of Cape Town is extremely proud of the officers who were involved in these arrests. It is thanks to them and their hard work that Cape Town will be transformed into a world class city.

"We trust that Police Commissioner Mzwandile Petros will personally see to it that these criminals, who were caught red-handed, do not become part of the 96% of cases that are not convicted, allowing criminals to walk free in the Western Cape.

"We need to restore respect for the police and support them. By the same token, the police needs to earn the respect of the community by making sure criminals are put behind bars and kept there.

"The police need to act on tip-offs and bring corrupt police officials to book. The Copperheads' successes are based mainly on anonymous tip-offs. Perhaps the police should also introduce a similar 24 hour fraud line," says Van Dalen.

He again thanked Capetonians for their anonymous tip-offs and urged them to continue reporting any suspicious activity to the Copperheads' toll-free hotline on 0800 222 771.

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Issued by:
Communication Department, City of Cape Town