Police arrested a man for copper cable theft in Bethal at approximately 5am this morning, 12 April.

A security guard who went off duty at 4am walked from a guest house towards the CBD when he saw seven men digging a trench next to the road.

He pretended to not see them and walked to the nearest filling station.

He asked to use a cell phone to contact the police but nobody wanted to give him their cell phones.

An off-duty policeman stopped at the filling station and the security guard informed him of the suspected copper cable theft.

The security guard and policeman went to the scene and arrested one man.

The police recovered the stolen cables.

The CBD in Bethal has been without electricity since 2am this morning, because the main supply overhead line had a fault.

Residents had electricity at 1pm again.

They suspect the electricity outage had something to do with the cable theft.