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MUIZENBERG's drug problem is far from over, says Mountain Men director Allan Dillon, and it will take the combined efforts of police, residents and security companies to ensure the fight is not lost.

This statement comes after the arrest of a 44-year old Fish Hoek re?sident and the subsequent entrapment of two known Bonray Court drug dealers on Friday.

According to Dillon, the arrests were effected after his security officers noticed the suspected dea?lers? well-known silver Nissan Al?mera pull up at the Lakeside Spar on Thursday.

"They proceeded to do their business with the Fish Hoek buyer right in front of shoppers. Our officers waited until the dealers left before arresting the first suspect. He was found in possession of cocaine and dagga," Dillon says.

The Mountain Men set up video surveillance outside Bonray Court the next morning, where the alleged dealers were known to reside. The footage revealed drug deals being conducted at 09:20 in the morning, this time in full view of pedestrians and commuters.

"That afternoon we phoned the dealer on his cellphone to order six three-gramme bags of cocaine, worth around R2 000 in total, and had them deliver it to an address in Lakeside. Both were arrested soon after," Dillon says. "It came as no surprise that they came from Bonray Court."

The infamous Frankfort Road tenement has been a crime generator in Muizenberg since 2005 after UK-based landlord Keith Shaw ignored entreaties by members of the Muizenberg Improvement District (MID) to not lease his property to a group of criminals and miscreants (see People's Post, 21 May 2007).

Shaw has over the past few months been forced to take a more direct interest in his property or stand losing it to the police's Asset Forfeiture Unit, according to reports by Muizenberg Improvement District (MID) manager Dave D'Alton, a fact confirmed by Muizenberg Police Director Deon Hagen.

"A meeting took place between myself and Shaw's South African representative," Director Hagen said on Monday. "The owner has now initiated legal proceedings to gain an eviction order against the current tenants. Until that time, however, we will not stop respon?ding to reports of crime connected to the site." Director Hagen has initiated more than five raids on the property in the last two months.

Hagen adds that the problem is not confined to so-called "drug houses", as dealers operate all over, including in the lanes and on the beach.

Gang bosses have also been ma?king optimum use of street children, who police cannot fully prosecute.

"These children are acting as 'high-risk' drug runners between False Bay College students and Village drug-dealers - a problem police can do very little about," Allan Dillon says.

As Director Hagen admits, children caught for crimes can only be held for a maximum of 24-hours by police, after which they are absorbed back into the Social Welfare system. "They are mostly released back into their parents' custody - who cannot control them - as there just aren't enough places of safety to hold them. We find ourselves continuously re-arresting the same children."

Muizenberg might soon see a "drop-in centre" for street children established in conjunction with The Homestead Shelter in Cape Town, says MID board member Joanne Hichens.

"The primary purpose of the centre will be to get children into some sort of stable residential care, but failing this, the centre should at least be a means of keeping track of the children's movements and behaviour. This information will be shared with the relevant authorities," Hichens says.

The MID is currently looking at council property located near Marina da Gama.

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