Beira, Mozambique, Oct. 21, 2025 (Lusa) - Mozambican police announced on Tuesday the arrest of a man associated with a scrap yard, suspected of buying almost 2 tonnes of electrical cables stolen from the state-owned EDM company in central Mozambique for resale.
The arrest took place in Beira, Sofala province, central Mozambique, where, during surveillance work, a man associated with the scrap yard and warehouse belonging to a Chinese national, who is on the run, was caught red-handed, according to Alfeu Sitoe, spokesman for the provincial directorate of the National Criminal Investigation Service (Sernic), who explained at a press conference today.
"In the same warehouse, the accused was attending to clients, receiving and evaluating the cables and sending the clients' bills to his boss for payment via mobile wallets," said Sitoe, adding that around two tonnes of copper and aluminium cables supposedly belonging to Electricidade de Moçambique (EDM) were recovered.
"It's an illicit and reprehensible activity, given that it jeopardises the public good," said the Sernic spokesman in Sofala, justifying the fact that the cables supply energy "to everyone", and accusing the Chinese businessman, by buying this material, of "not only jeopardising well-being, but destroying the country's heritage", which "is reprehensible".
EDM has been complaining about the theft of electrical cables, claiming that it adds up to losses that jeopardise the functioning of the institution and the objective of "ensuring full access to energy" in Mozambican communities.
"We have evidence of these cases that EDM is complaining about. Sernic has presented us with a huge amount here today, (...) and this crime has been taking on different features," said the representative of the public company's Beira operational area, Gabriel Titosse, who also pointed to difficulties in replacing cables in vandalised locations.
He also pointed to losses of 24 million meticais (€325,800) in this case, an amount that is "enough to electrify a town, an administrative post that is not too far away".
In September, the Mozambican police arrested two men, including a Chinese national, for illegally possessing 300 kilograms of copper in the same province.
According to the Mozambican police, the men, aged 28 and 49, were caught red-handed with the material.
Also in the same month, the Mozambican police announced the arrest of two Pakistanis, also in possession of two rolls of high-voltage cables, in Maputo province, in the south of the country, allegedly belonging to EDM.
Over the last four years, the company has recorded losses of €3.9 million due to vandalism and theft of electrical equipment, which ends up on the informal market, and more than 300 clandestine scrap yards have been identified for the sale of these materials, according to the state-owned company.
Mozambique has previously warned of the growth of an organised, transnational criminal network dedicated to the theft of electrical equipment, calling for collective efforts from countries in the southern African region. In contrast, countries such as South Africa, Malawi, Tanzania and Eswatini have already adopted measures, including banning the export of copper scrap and criminalising the vandalisation of electrical infrastructure.
Data from the state-owned company shows that Zambézia province, in the centre of Mozambique, tops the list of cases of electrical equipment theft, followed by Inhambane, in the south of the country.
On September 2, EDM reported losses of around 17 million meticais (€227,000) due to the theft and vandalisation of electrical transformers this year, with at least five people arrested in Nampula.
VIYS/ADB // ADB.
Lusa
