Police services in both Botswana and South Africa are keeping a very close eye on a South African village near their common border and are even mulling a raid on it.
The village which police say has been turned into a black market and criminal nest village in South Africa that has being turned into a black market and cross border criminal nest, is expected to be raided following the arrest of some of the suspected members in Botswana.
The suspects are reported to specialize in the theft of solar panels, with the cross border criminal syndicate targeting Botswana Telecommunication Cooperation (BTC) solar panels that were installed during the Nteletsa 1 project.
The BTC has already lost hundreds of thousands of pula through the theft of the panels, forcing it to do away with solar energy and resort to other sources of energy.
Botswana Police are said to have impounded a Mercedes Benz that is used during these thefts.
The Station Commander of Ramatlabama Police Station, Superintendent Tshegofatso Mokumakwa, said they had already arrested about four suspects on separate occasions, adding that the suspects are believed to be part of the cross border solar panel criminal syndicate.
“We could have managed to arrest more of the suspects but some managed to escape when they were spotted,” said Mokumakwa.
He said as police, they had identified a village near Mafikeng in South Africa where the criminal syndicate sells the stolen panels on the black market, adding that they had already communicated with their counterparts in South Africa, adding, “I am not in a good position to reveal what strategy will be used to bust the syndicate,” he said.
Asked about the issue, BTC Marketing and Communications Manager, Anno Tshipa, said BTC has been hit by solar panel thefts and is exploring other alternatives.
“We are no longer replacing stolen solar panels, instead we will use any other form of energy,” she said, conceding that the most affected the area is Borolong.