Cape council staff held after swoop
Cape Town-131106-KOA reportedly were in posession of City Council man-hole covers this morning. The police were at these premises and the man-hole covers were confiscated. Three people were arrested in connection with the incident. While we were there, this woman who identified herself as, Beverly Curby brought this gate to the scrap yard on a shopping trolley. When questioned, she said she got the gate from the person she works for at Fourth Avenue and Fifth Street, Kensington-Reporter-Neo-Photographer-Tracey Adams Cape Town-131106-KOA reportedly were in posession of City Council man-hole covers this morning. The police were at these premises and the man-hole covers were confiscated. Three people were arrested in connection with the incident. While we were there, this woman who identified herself as, Beverly Curby brought this gate to the scrap yard on a shopping trolley. When questioned, she said she got the gate from the person she works for at Fourth Avenue and Fifth Street, Kensington-Reporter-Neo-Photographer-Tracey Adams
Cape Town - Alleged crooks employed by the City of Cape Town chose just the wrong moment to approach a Maitland scrapyard with a load of drain covers and water meters.
The Copperheads - the city’s metal theft unit - pounced on the scrapyard on Wednesday and found a shipping container with 10 crates of broken manhole covers.
While the scrapyard owner was being arrested, law enforcement officers spotted a City of Cape Town Water and Sanitation bakkie approaching the yard.
JP Smith, mayco member for safety and security, said the occupants of the bakkie noticed the commotion in the scrapyard and fled.
But law enforcement officials were hot on their heels. They stopped the bakkie and searched it to find three crates of broken drain covers and water meters.
The three men were arrested. They would also face internal disciplinary action, said Smith.
”This arrest of city staff members demonstrates our zero tolerance approach - no one is above the law.”
When the Cape Argus arrived at the scrapyard on Wednesday, it was business as usual with people exchanging scrap metal, including a gate, with yard staff.
A man, who did not want to be named, confirmed that all the manhole covers had been seized by the police. He declined to answer any more questions.
Police spokesman Colonel Andre Traut confirmed that four people, aged between 38 and 57, had been arrested.
Traut said the matter was still under investigation and that the suspects were due to appear in the Cape Town Magistrate’s Court on Thursday.
Cape Argus