Three arrested for stealing electricity supplying equipment, impersonating REG staff

Residents of Mwanganzara Village, Mburabuturo Cell, Muko Sector where the incident took place said that the trio cut electricity wires that supplied seven households during day, and came back in the evening telling them that each household would have to pay Rwf2500 if they wanted to get electricity back easily.

The residents refused, and one of them immediately took the complaint to REG customer care staff who responded that they were not aware of the said staff let alone the disconnections.

Residents spent the whole week in darkness before catching one of the culprits who revealed the identity of his accomplices.

Ismail Niyibizi, one of the people who faced this problem says that they incurred serious inconveniences including giving their money which was not reimbursed.

“At around 11 am the electricity went off and we thought it would soon be back as usual. As came back from town at around 8 pm, I found people over the house moving cables. On seeing me, they ran away and I ran after them too. They told me that they are REG employees and that they will come back the next day when they have enough tools, but when we asked REG, they told us they do not know them and we spent the whole week in darkness,” he said.

REG Director in the Northern Province, Eng. Marcel Nzamurambaho said they got to learn about the incident from the residents and started pursuing the culprits until they caught them.

“Because the residents already know that electricity repair services are given for free, they were suspicious when they saw them swiftly cutting cables and later asking them to pay for the costs of repair. So in collaboration with Rwanda Investigation Bureau, we pursued them. Now the suspects are all in police custody. We reconnected the households to electricity and encouraged them to always give us information about suspicious characters,” he said.

RIB country spokesperson Modeste Mbabazi said all those being charged with the theft of electricity and impersonating REG workers will be punished by law if they are found guilty.