Operation Vala Umgodi has netted five suspects aged between 24 and 37 for tampering with essential infrastructure at Joe’s Luck near Barberton on 27 February 2026 at about 15:30.
Members of the operation were working together with the National Intervention Unit (NIU) and the Tactical Response Team (TRT).
The members were patrolling along the R38 Barberton-Sheba Siding Road when they spotted a taxi offloading men who proceeded into the thick bushes at Joe’s Luck near Barberton. Police followed them into the bushes, where they discovered the men busy tampering with a railway line. Nine suspects evaded arrest after fleeing the scene.
Five suspects were arrested, including a female who was allegedly cooking meals and guarding the railway steel for the group.
Police confiscated the following items:
• Two digging bars
• One 4lb hammer
• Two heavy-duty truck wheel spanners
• One alloy steel pipe
• Two hundred and sixty-nine (269) one-metre railway tracks
All relevant stakeholders were summoned to the scene, including Transnet officials, and the steel was handed back to the company.
Meanwhile, two additional suspects were arrested on the same date along the Sheba Siding Road for contravention of the Immigration Act. They are also expected to appear in court.
All suspects are expected to appear at the Barberton Magistrate’s Court on Monday, 02 March 2026.
