Secunda - Two paramedics caught carrying R57 000 worth of copper cables in an ambulance were arrested on Thursday in Secunda, Mpumalanga police said.
"The two department of health on-duty officials in their 40s, stationed at Leandra hospital, took the ambulance to Sywerfontein mine where they met other izinyoka [copper cable thieves]," said Captain Leonard Hlathi.
The group stashed the copper cable inside the emergency vehicle and drove off with the lights flashing as if they were ferrying a patient in need of medical attention.
Hlathi said police acting on a tip-off stopped the ambulance about 1km from the scene and found it filled to the brim with copper cables.
"There was no space left to even accommodate a toddler. Some copper cables were even stashed under the beds. Clinical utensils that are used to treat patients were in contact with the copper cables," he said.
