Durban - The South African Police Service (SAPS) pounced on a drug laboratory in northern KwaZulu-Natal this month, seizing equipment and mandrax tablets worth just over R57 million.
The bust came after police received information about a supposed steel factory in the Mandeni Ngudwini area, around 140 north of Durban.
According to police sources, the factory was supposed to have hired locals from the area in cooperation with the chief of the community, but that was not done.
The company continued to operate, which was a cause for concern for Ngudwini residents.
Last week, police engaged with its informers and put together a team to pounce on the factory.
Members from the organised crime investigation unit narcotics executed a search warrant at the alleged steel factory, which is located in the Sundumbili policing precinct.
Upon their arrival at the factory, police officers managed to gain access and found that the equipment was still in operation, but nobody was in sight.
Police found clothing on the floor in the back part of the factory.
It is alleged that the people working inside the factory got wind of the police presence and fled the scene in time, evading arrest.
Inside, police found a drug processing plant with machinery, makeshift bath tubs and chemicals that were used to make mandrax or ‘buttons’, as they referred to on the streets.
Police also found a white truck with a Gauteng registration, a forklift, cell phones, identification documents and passports at the scene.
“The estimated street value of only the drugs recovered is R57 761000.00,” the source said.
From the images seen, a number of packets of processed mandrax tablets were recovered by the police.
Each tablet has a street value of around R40-R60, depending on the area it is sold in.
IOL