Police in Tshwane have recovered 1.2 kilometres of stolen cables, worth R2 million, from a stationary truck.

The suspects' truck got stuck on the side of the road in Hercules, west of Tshwane.

There was a large amount of City of Tshwane cables in the trailer behind the truck, which made residents suspicious. It was night; they wondered why the municipality would transport cables at such a time in an unmarked vehicle.

They called the authorities, and within a short time the Tshwane Metro Police's cable theft unit and Hercules police were at the scene.

A resident who wished to remain anonymous said the suspects didn't even have torches.

"They were walking around the truck trying to find out what could be the problem, using cellphones as torches. Their speech sounded foreign, which made us even more suspicious," he said.

Tshwane Metro Police spokesperson senior superintendent Isaac Mahamba said three suspects were arrested.

He said R2 million worth of cables were recovered.

"When questioned, the trio couldn't explain where they got the cable from," he said.

Tshwane MMC of community safety Grandi Theunissen commended both the community and the cops for good collaborative work.

"I would like to congratulate our cable theft unit for the great job they have done. This is a scarce resource and as a city we cannot afford to suffer such losses," he said.

"I also appreciate the work done by residents in tipping off the police and not turning a blind eye. Without them this arrest would not have been possible," he said.

The suspects will appear in court soon.