Last week, drugs worth just under a million rand were confiscated by the police in the Northern Cape.
Sgt Omphile Masegela, police spokesperson, said a search operation was instituted in Upington on Friday, 9 June, and two premises were raided after information was received about drugs allegedly being stored and sold there.
Members of both the Upington Border Police and K9 units searched the first house, and the team found drugs including tik, mandrax tablets, and cocaine with an estimated value of R705 100.
A 40-year-old man was arrested.
The team continued to the second house where they found dagga to the value of R5 040. Another man, aged 35 years, was arrested.
Both suspects will be charged for dealing in drugs, and will be appearing in court soon, Masegela said.
- In another unrelated incident, two suspects were arrested for possession of drugs after members of the Kimberley Flying Squad followed up on information received. Officials found tik, nyaope and dagga worth approximately R70 000 at two different locations in Jan Kempdorp and Hartswater.
- In two separate incidents in Buffelsrivier and Komaggas, members of both the Springbok Public Order Policing and K9 units pounced on five suspects and confiscated a large amount of mandrax, tik, and dagga.
This was all part of Operation Shanela, taking place from 8 to 11 June, which was a high-density operation that resulted in the apprehension and arrest of 88 suspects for various criminal offences.
Police in the five districts of the Northern Cape focused on increased and enhanced blue light patrols, stop and searches, roadblocks, tracing operations, random vehicle checkpoints, proliferation of firearms, drugs, investigations into gender-based violence and femicide (GBVF), compliance inspections, stock theft, and property-related crimes.
In total, 209 premises and 3 828 persons were searched. Police officials stopped 1 327 motor vehicles, visited 125 liquor outlets, executed 1 581 patrols, conducted compliance inspections at 469 premises, and visited 653 informal business premises.
- The teams also searched the Springbok hostels for illegal immigrants, drugs, illegal firearms, and stolen goods.
- In Kimberley, taxi ranks, liquor outlets, shopping malls and complexes, as well as hotspots in the greater Kimberley areas were visited and inspected.
During a stop and search in Kimberley, a suspect was arrested after police found him in possession of 74 kg of allegedly stolen copper he was pushing in a trolley.
Lt. Col Sergio Kock, police spokesperson, said numerous other successes included the confiscation of large amounts of homebrewed concoctions and liquor, dagga, cash, and dangerous weapons. Various alleged stolen goods were also retrieved at the taxi ranks.
Kock said the increased boots on the ground and enhanced police visibility is squeezing the space for criminals to operate. These disruptive operations are ongoing and focus will remain on the proliferation of illegal firearms, drug trafficking, damage to and tampering of essential infrastructure, GBVF, and property-related crimes.
