Five people were arrested by Johannesburg metro police for allegedly stealing R60‚000 worth of copper cables on Monday.

"The stolen copper cables‚ with an estimated value of R60‚000‚ were already cut into 206 pieces of 2m each‚" Johannesburg public safety MMC Michael Sun said on Tuesday.

"Suspicious activity was spotted on the city’s CCTV network by an IIOC (integrated intelligent operation centre) operator who immediately alerted the metro police. The IIOC reaction unit was on scene within minutes and chased the suspects who fled in a taxi. The metro officers were able to corner the fleeing suspects at the corner of Nugget and Jeppe streets [in Hillbrow]‚” Sun added.

The IIOC wants to stop crime by using monitoring CCTV cameras “specifically in the inner city”.