Cele praises cops for Joburg drug busts
2011-09-24 07:17
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Johannesburg - National police chief General Bheki Cele praised the police on Friday night for arresting eight people in Johannesburg for possession of drugs worth an estimated R14m on the street.
"These multiple successes show that the police are squeezing the space against the drug dealers," Cele said in a statement.
The arrests were made in three raids.
In the first raid, mandrax and all the chemicals and equipment needed to make it, worth an estimated R11m, were found at a house in Parkmore at 08:00 after a month-long investigation by the Hawks, said Lieutenant Colonel Lungelo Dlamini.
A man and a woman were arrested, and three stolen vehicles with Botswana licence plates were confiscated. No money was found at the scene.
The couple, both in their 30s, was expected to appear in the Johannesburg Magistrate's Court on Monday on charges of manufacturing and dealing in drugs.
Earlier on Friday morning, cocaine with an estimated street value of R2 million was seized and six people were arrested in Ridgeway, south of the city.
Dlamini said the Hawks and members of the dog unit arrested five Nigerian men and a South African woman at an upmarket townhouse complex at 6am.
"Police acting on information raided the complex and found 3kg of cocaine powder hidden in the bathroom," he said.
Police confiscated vehicle registration documents and passports which were believed to be fake.
The Ridgeway house was believed to be the distribution point for the drug.
The six, all in their 30s, were expected to appear in the Johannesburg Magistrate's Court on Monday on charges of dealing in drugs.
Further investigation led police to a drugs laboratory in downtown Johannesburg on Friday afternoon.
"It was in a flat in the city centre. We seized cocaine power and the drug tik worth about R800 000. It [the flat] was used as a lab by the people staying in Ridgeway," said Dlamini.
The flat was unoccupied when the raid took place.
"More people may be arrested as investigations are continuing," he said.
The Parkmore raid was not related to the other two raids.
- SAPA