CC Image courtesy of Lsgeeks
The South African Chamber of Commerce Industry (SACCI) has called for a copper theft police unit to be established after reporting a 71 per cent increase since May last year.
“Although the South African Police Service (SAPS) have done excellent work with practical legislative initiatives to curb copper theft thus far, this project needs to move forward by way of introducing a specialised copper theft police unit,” SACCI said.
It said the amount lost from copper theft has increased from ZAR11 million (US$1 million) in March to ZAR15.4 million (US$1.45 million) in May.
“Recent incidents of copper theft that resulted in large scale property damage and a variety of economic costs together with the upward trend in the Barometer suggests that urgent policy response is required,” SACCI said.
The amount of copper stolen has increased from 153 metric tonnes in March to 214 metric tonnes in May.
“The outlook for reduction in copper theft levels for 2014 is concerning given the consistent increase in theft levels over the past three months. Hopefully this upward movement can be arrested through intensification of policing efforts and information-sharing amongst key stakeholders.”
