How cops spied on drug run
2006-11-14 21:11
Cape Town - Bellville regional court heard on Tuesday how police secretly monitored a Mercedes-Benz Sprinter 4x4 on its way from Gauteng to the Cape, with chemicals, allegedly to make the drug, tik.
Captain Johan Smit of the Western Cape organised crime unit gave the court an overview of the complex investigation involving a team of investigators, that culminated in the arrest two years ago of four Chinese men.
There also was a search-and-seizure operation at a home in the upmarket residential suburb of Plattekloof.
When the suspects launched a bail application in 2004, there were only four of them, but four more have since been added, bringing the number on trial to eight.
The men have pleaded not guilty before magistrate Michelle Adams to a main charge of dealing in 3kg of tik, and alternative counts of conspiracy to deal as well as possession.
Monitored the 4x4
Smit, who co-ordinated the investigation, told the court it started with information that the Mercedes Sprinter had left Gauteng about 17:00 on November 27 2004, on its way to the Cape.
His information was that the vehicle was on the N1, and was equipped with an electronic tracking and surveillance system.
Police monitored the vehicle, and about 22:00 that night Smit was told it was between Bloemfontein and Colesberg.
Smit told the court he and a colleague waited at Joostenberg Vlakte on the N1 near Cape Town, and the vehicle finally passed them about 02:45.
Smit and his colleague followed the vehicle until it was parked near a church in Bothasig, and continued its journey at 10:00 that day.
The police followed the vehicle to premises known as the Bellville Business Park, where one of the suspects had rented a garage.
Smit said they got a search warrant to enter the garage, where they found a working space, two wooden pallets, seven plastic containers and a refuse bin with labels in it reflecting the name High Tech Chemicals, Durban, and a 25-litre container of hydrochloric acid.
Smit said samples scraped from the pallets tested positive for methamphetamine.
On top of a cupboard, they found a concealed hole in the wall, leading to a secret room.
Smit said chemicals for the alleged manufacture of tik were received from Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal, and were then taken to the garage at the Bellville Office Park.
Photographed in secret
From there, the chemicals were transported to the Somerset West shopping mall, then to a residential address in Somerset West, before being taken to the premises in Plattekloof.
Smit said he received information on November 29, about 22:00, that the Sprinter was back on the N1, on its way back to Gauteng.
Police monitored it, until it stopped at a petrol station in Bloemfontein, where it and the driver were secretly photographed.
The hearing continues on Wednesday.
- SAPA