UPDATE: Court withdraws charges, frees 22 in cable seizure case

In what police have described as a major takedown, 22 Chinese nationals were arrested after being caught loading a truck with cables along the Cape West Coast.

The group was busted in Koekenaap, near Lutzville, after police received a tip-off about a truck being loaded with copper cables.

The Chinese nationals are set to appear in the Lutzville Magistrates Court on Friday.

Police spokesperson Ndakhe Gwala said the truck was allegedly on its way to Gqeberha, in the Eastern Cape.

The value of the cables is yet to be determined. The suspects, 24 males aged between 24 and 50 and a 39-year-old female, were detained for possession of presumably stolen property.

EDITOR'S NOTE: This story has been updated to remove mention of Eskom after clarification that the cables recovered were the property of Pinggao Group, the BESS project contractor and not stolen, despite bearing the Eskom logo for identification.

The arrested individuals appeared at the Vredendal Magistrate’s Court on Thursday, 30 January 2026. The charges were withdrawn and all 22 were released after the court was satisfied that no crime had been committed.