{"id":652578,"date":"2026-06-07T14:50:05","date_gmt":"2026-06-07T12:50:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/?p=652578"},"modified":"2026-06-07T15:28:59","modified_gmt":"2026-06-07T13:28:59","slug":"cellphone-tower-syndicate-in-south-africa-busted-after-r500000-battery-theft","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/telecoms\/652578-cellphone-tower-syndicate-in-south-africa-busted-after-r500000-battery-theft.html","title":{"rendered":"Cellphone tower syndicate in South Africa busted after R500,000 battery theft"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The South African Police Service (SAPS) has arrested eight suspects found in possession of suspected stolen cellphone tower batteries with an estimated value of R500,000.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is alleged that the individuals were involved in the theft of cellphone tower infrastructure across the North West province, and had at least four cellphone tower batteries in their possession.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The arrests were the result of a police operation that took place on 4 June at 22:30 in the Phokeng policing area in Rustenburg following intelligence received and investigated by SAPS officials.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was led by the Counter Narcotics Intelligence and Domestic Drug Trafficking division, which had been investigating individuals allegedly involved with cell phone tower battery theft in the North West.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Intelligence indicated that the suspects had allegedly been involved in the theft of cellphone tower batteries in the Zeerust area and were transporting the stolen batteries in a Toyota Quantum,” SAPS said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Acting on the information, members from the Phokeng K9 Unit and other law enforcement role players coordinated a multidisciplinary operation and strategically deployed along routes leading into Phokeng.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A suspicious Toyota Quantum was spotted near Boshoek, travelling towards Chanening in the Phokeng area. It was then stopped and searched, leading to the discovery of the batteries concealed within.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“The batteries, with an estimated value of approximately R500,000, are believed to have been stolen from telecommunications infrastructure,” officials said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Eight suspects were arrested and charged with possession of suspected stolen property. The recovered batteries and the Toyota Quantum allegedly used in the crimes were seized.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The suspects, aged between 20 and 48, are now expected to appear before the Tlhabane Magistrates’ Court on Monday, 8 June 2026.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“The police remains committed in combating crimes that target critical infrastructure,” said acting Provincial Commissioner, Maj. Gen. Ryno Naidoo.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Such offences negatively affect service delivery, economic activity, and community safety.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Former technician gets 20 years for stealing from cellphone towers<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Cellphone tower batteries discovered by SAPS during the operation. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Officials in South Africa are cracking down on criminals who steal and damage critical telecommunications network infrastructure, with hefty sentences being handed out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Last month, a 43-year-old former cellphone tower technician was sentenced to serve 20 years behind bars<\/a> after he was convicted of tampering with network infrastructure and stealing copper cables.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Free State detectives used fingerprint analysis to catch and convict Sello Dichaba, who was apprehended after stealing from cellphone towers belonging to MTN and Vodacom.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“With no immediate eyewitnesses or suspects identified at the time, the Local Criminal Record Centre (LCRC) meticulously processed the crime scene,” SAPS said in a statement at the time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“\u200bExperts from the LCRC successfully lifted a set of fingerprints, which ultimately became the undoing of the perpetrator.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Prior to his arrest and sentencing, Dichaba was a contracted technician employed to service cellphone towers. It was believed that this allowed him direct access to infrastructure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The investigation to bust Dichaba was led by Warrant Officers Moeketsi Mohotsi and Krokkie Engelbrecht, who worked with National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) Advocate Keith Muller.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dichaba faced two counts of damage to essential infrastructure and two counts of theft. The stolen cellphone tower infrastructure was never recovered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u200b”During the trial, the accused faced an insurmountable wall of scientific evidence and could not explain why his fingerprints were present at the scene,” the SAPS said at the time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dichaba was found guilty of four counts on 7 May 2026 and was sentenced to a combined 50 years imprisonment, concurrently. He will effectively serve 20 years for the tower theft.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u200b”This conviction underscores the reality that science doesn’t lie,” said Free State Provincial Head of Crime Detection Major General Apaphia Modise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Excellent teamwork between the tag team of Warrant Officer Engelbrecht and Mohotsi, the LCRC experts, and the NPA, ensuring that an insider who abused his position of trust was brought to book.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

Photos of North West bust<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A syndicate alleged to have been stealing cellphone tower batteries across the North West has been busted by SAPS after being found in possession of R500,000 worth of allegedly stolen property.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":341213,"featured_media":652579,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[105423,105765,105764,42,75254,105767,2446,17084,105766,41],"class_list":["post-652578","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-telecoms","tag-apaphia-modise","tag-krokkie-engelbrecht","tag-moeketsi-mohotsi","tag-mtn","tag-north-west-province","tag-ryno-naidoo","tag-saps","tag-south-african-police-service","tag-toyota-quantum","tag-vodacom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/652578"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/341213"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=652578"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/652578\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":652589,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/652578\/revisions\/652589"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/652579"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=652578"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=652578"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=652578"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}