Police arrested six people and shut down an illegal alcohol factory during a raid on a Faure farm on Thursday 2 October.
The officers discovered a fully operational facility with plastic containers filled with chemicals, hundreds of empty and pre-filled liquor bottles, industrial-grade bottling and capping machinery, and boxes of equipment used to produce counterfeit liquor.
“The operation led to the arrest of five Malawian suspects, aged between 26 and 45, and the seizure of large quantities of illicit alcohol and manufacturing equipment,” said Captain FC van Wyk, spokesperson for provincial police.
The investigation extended to a storage facility in Woodstock, where a 53-year-old Chinese national was arrested. Police confiscated a substantial quantity of illegal, pre-packaged alcohol suspected to be ready for distribution.
The five Malawian suspects will appear in the Stellenbosch Magistrates’ Court while the Chinese suspect will appear in the Cape Town Magistrates’ Court, all on charges related to contraventions of the Liquor Act.
The raids were part of Operation Shanela II, a nationwide police initiative targeting serious and violent crimes in hotspots across the nine provinces.
Western Cape Provincial Commissioner Lieutenant General (Advocate) Thembisile Patekile commended the members involved in the operation, saying it aligned with the provincial approach to close down illegal liquor manufacturing and distribution to outlets known as shebeens.
“These operations will be sustained to eradicate alcohol abuse, which remains one of the contributing factors to serious and violent crimes, especially over weekends,” Van Wyk said.
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