Luanda, Dec. 18, 2025 (Lusa) - Angolan police have arrested three suspects for vandalising electricity transmission towers, causing a blackout that affected around 300,000 families in the provinces of Cuanza Sul and Benguela, a police spokesperson announced on Thursday.
The incident involved the vandalism of five high-voltage towers by the removal of bolts and angle brackets, leaving these two provinces in darkness. The power supply has now been restored.
According to the spokesperson for the Angolan National Police, Deputy Commissioner Mateus Rodrigues, the three suspects were arrested in the province of Cuanza Sul and the investigation is continuing, considering that "there are probably more individuals involved".
"We are facing a social problem, we are not facing a situation that can be resolved with police measures, because police measures happen every day, we are facing a problem that requires multidisciplinary and multisectoral intervention," said Mateus Rodrigues when he participated today in a programme on Angolan public radio.
In turn, the head of communications at ENDE - Empresa Nacional de Distribuição de Eletricidade (National Electricity Distribution Company), Wilson Haukelo, said that 113 acts of vandalism had been recorded since January.
"They target distribution cabinets, low-voltage cables, transformer poles, medium-voltage cables and high-voltage cables. We all need to look at this with some concern, as it has now affected more than 300,000 families in two provinces," he said.
According to ENDE, in November alone, several incidents of vandalism involving high- and medium-voltage equipment were recorded in the provinces of Bengo, Benguela, Luanda and Cunene.
For several years, Angola has been confronted with the phenomenon of vandalism of public property, which has affected the water and energy sectors, with the theft of cables, screws, angle brackets, and manhole covers, among other items, which allegedly sustain the business of selling ferrous material by weight, causing huge losses to the Angolan state.
Regarding these acts of vandalism, Angola's Minister of Energy and Water, João Baptista Borges, defended the need to examine the destination points of these metal parts, which are so important to the energy supply.
"There is no doubt that they have been channelled to so-called weighing stations. If we really want to solve the problem, we have to start with the destinations of this equipment," he stressed.
This year, the National Assembly approved the Law on Crimes of Vandalism of Public Goods and Services, which carries a maximum penalty of 25 years' imprisonment.
NME/ADB // ADB.
Lusa
