By: ANG Reporter
City Power security officers were shot and injured last night in the Eikenhof area, south of Joburg, City Power announced in a statement on Monday.
City Power said the two security officers were doing their regular patrols in the bushes near the Eikenhof substation when they were ambushed by an unknown number of suspected cable thieves who came from nowhere and started shooting.
“A shootout ensued, with the two security officers clearly outgunned, and one of the security officers was shot and taken to Milpark hospital.”
City Power said the area of Eikenhof is the hardest hit as the cable theft hotspot. “This is partly due to the vast open bushy spaces where our cables supplying Naturena, Kiblerpark, among others, run.”
The latest attack is part of numerous shootings, some fatal, against City Power security officers by cable thieves,
In April, two armed security officers contracted to City Power were shot and killed while patrolling some of the cable theft hotspots around Newtown.
The guards were ambushed by an unknown number of assailants.
City Power said the latest shooting “is another proof that the cable thieves are being brazen and dangerous”.
“We are no longer dealing with common criminals but well-resourced individuals.”
City Power called on the police to do more “to assist our security response to cable theft and vandalism”.
“This should include regular patrols and raids in identified areas as hotspots.”
A case of attempted murder, tempering, and attempted theft of essential infrastructure has been opened with the police.
Meanwhile, City Power announced that 18 cases of vandalism and theft of cables, fuses, and breakers, were reported the past weekend alone.
“One suspect was arrested in Fairlands for being in possession of fuses stolen from a transformer substation in the area.”
