COAST REGION: POLICE have successfully apprehended four suspects involved in the theft of copper cables and blocks weighing 16,894.5 kilogrammes from Tanzania Electric Supply Company (TANESCO) and the Tanzania Railway Corporation (TRC).
The suspects were arrested in two separate incidents, both involving the illegal possession of property belonging to state-owned enterprises.
In the first incident, two suspects, one of Asian origin and the other Tanzanian, were arrested with a large quantity of stolen copper materials, including 426 copper blocks weighing 7,728 kilogrammes and 2,628.5 kilogrammes of copper wire.
The stolen materials, which were taken from TANESCO and TRC, were being processed and concealed in an attempt to hide their origin.
Rufiji Special Police Zone Regional Police Commander, Protas Mutayoba said police have also seized an additional 430 kilogrammes of copper wire identified to the property of TRC. The copper blocks had been extracted from stolen TANESCO and TRC cables and were later processed to disguise their true origin.
The breakthrough came when police intercepted a Fuso truck transporting the stolen copper materials. The truck was heading to a facility owned by the suspects, who had planned to hide the goods after learning of an ongoing police crackdown on copper theft.
Moreover, in the second incident, Police have arrested other two suspects of Asian origin. The two were detained while attempting to traffic illegally obtained copper wires from TANESCO and TRC’s infrastructure.
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During the operation on their factory, police discovered over 608 kilogrammes of copper wire stolen from TANESCO and more than 5,500 kilogrammes others from TRC.
The arrests are part of a broader ongoing Police operation to dismantle criminal networks responsible for the widespread theft of copper from critical national infrastructure.
The Rufiji Special Police Zone Regional Police Commander, Mr Mutayoba has commended the public for the cooperation in the operation and asked citizens to continue supporting police officers with information that would help to arrest suspects who are involved in criminal acts in their areas.
