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Saturday Star reports that two armed security officers contracted to City Power were shot and killed last week while patrolling some of the cable theft hotspots around Newtown in Johannesburg.
The guards were ambushed by an unknown number of men at around 10pm on Thursday night. Earlier last week, downtown Joburg almost came to a grinding halt when cables were destroyed in a fire leaving hundreds of residents unable to access their apartments in the CBD. City Power spokesperson Isaac Mangena said the security officers had just completed a task of escorting a truck transporting tons of the burned copper cables from inner-city underground tunnels to the utility's salvage yard at the head office in Booysens. The officers stopped to inspect a kiosk often burgled and used to gain entry into the tunnels and then returned to their vehicle to write a security status report. “Without any notice, armed suspects appeared on both the driver and passenger sides and shot both of them. They then pulled the lifeless bodies out of the vehicle and took one firearm from the crew,” Mangena reported. Police found more than 10 spent cartridges at the scene of the crime. “The latest killing goes to show how brazen and dangerous the cable thieves have become, and asserts our belief that this is an organised crime committed not by just an ordinary person, but by heavily armed gangs, equipped with cars and other resources,” Mangena said.
- Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Norman Cloete at Saturday Star
- Lees ook, Wagte dood wat kragkabels beveilig, by Maroela Media
Get other news reports at the SA Labour News home page