Stealing water as a business: The water thief and the distracted borehole owner – Watch

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Stealing water as a business: The water thief and the distracted borehole owner – Watch

1:34 CAT | 10 Apr 2018

Miramar

A Maputo plumber now in police custody successfully diverted water from a private vendor and developed a clandestine supply business, gaining more customers than the business owner himself.

The private water provider has not seen profit in his business for years. Only in 2015 did he realise that water was being diverted by an unknown party, but could not work out who or how because of the complexity of the piping involved. His losses continued to mount until the underground plumber was detected on Friday, five years later.

This man in question, now sporting handcuffs, channelled and distributed the water clandestinely to an extensive network of clients in the 3 de Fevereiro, Laulane and Ferroviário neighbourhoods.

He admits his crime and says he stopped charging his customers last month when his tanks could no longer support the number of customers and the water dried up.

Our reporter established that some of the clandestine plumber’s clients paid a third of the amount charged by the owner of the borehole.