A male suspect spent last night behind bars. This is after he was caught by members of the South African Police Service (SAPS) in possession of cellphone tower batteries on Wednesday, 17 February 2021.
The 9 cellphone tower batteries have been positively identified as property belonging to the telecommunications service provider MTN.
These cellphone batteries play an essential part in keeping network operations running during load shedding. With their theft, it’s no wonder that cellular network is poor during Eskom power outages.
MTN says crime syndicates are stealing its back up batteries and selling them for as little as R5 000 while the minimum cost for a brand-new battery is R28 000.
703 batteries were stolen from MTN stations in January 2020 from a total of 122 incidents according to an MTN spokesperson.
The suspect is expected to face charges of possession of stolen property at the Tembisa Magistrate’s Court soon.
