By Asive Dyani.
SA Police Service (SAPS) arrested two suspects in a drug lab bust estimated to be worth R80 million on Thursday, 22 August, in Douglasdale, Fourways, north of Joburg.
It’s reported the two were arrested through organised crime intelligence’s Hawks operations.
Speaking to the media at the scene, Gauteng Provincial Police Commissioner-Lieutenant General Tommy Mthombeni said others connected to the lab fled when they saw police vehicles approaching the house.
“It’s hard work through collaboration with the Hawks’s organised crime investigations. You have to take note that to have a bust in this type of laboratory, is not something you can do randomly. We had to get a search warrant. This is one of the largest labs we’ve discovered so far in Gauteng,” said Mthombeni.
He said across the province they have bust about 10 drug labs and have arrested not less than 20 people so far this year.
“One of the biggest machines discovered at the lab can produce quite a number of tablets per second. We still have to take this to a forensic laboratory, but it’s not less than R80 million worth of drugs,” he added.
It’s believed that the two suspects who were arrested are not South African nationals. Their nationality is yet to be disclosed as this is still an ongoing police investigation.
He said the arrested suspects will appear before the local magistrate’s court in due course, facing charges that include manufacturing of drugs, possession of unlicensed firearms, and possession of ammunition.