SAPS discovered a Huge Mandrax plant near Hartbeespoort Dam
BRITS — Four people have been arrested after police raided a plot near Hartbeespoort Dam and uncovered what they believe was a multimillion-rand Mandrax manufacturing laboratory containing processed drugs, production equipment and firearms.
The operation took place at a property in Scheerpoort on Tuesday after Hartbeespoort Dam SAPS Crime Prevention officers received information about suspected illegal activities. The information was shared with Brits Crime Intelligence and the local K9 unit before officers moved on the property.
Police spokesperson Colonel Adéle Myburgh said officers found three women and one man at the premises. A search subsequently uncovered processed drugs, a mixture believed to have been used in drug production and equipment allegedly used to manufacture narcotics.
Four firearms, including a rifle and three handguns, were also reportedly recovered during the raid.
Police arrested a 39-year-old man and three women aged between 23 and 29. They face charges relating to dealing in and manufacturing drugs as well as possession of unlicensed firearms and ammunition, and are expected to appear in the Brits Magistrate’s Court.
North West Provincial Commissioner Lieutenant General Arthur Adams was at the property while officers continued processing the scene.
The scale of the operation was still being established on Tuesday evening. Police had not yet released the quantity of Mandrax recovered or an estimated street value, meaning the description of the facility as a multimillion-rand laboratory is not yet supported by a final valuation of the drugs seized.
The Hartbeespoort discovery comes only weeks after another suspected Mandrax manufacturing operation was uncovered in Erasmia near Pretoria. Police said equipment at that facility was worth more than R100 million and indicated at the time that investigators were examining South Africa’s place in an alleged international drug trafficking route.
Police have not established publicly that the Hartbeespoort and Erasmia laboratories are connected.
The latest raid nevertheless adds to a series of discoveries showing that police are increasingly encountering not only finished drugs being transported or sold, but facilities allegedly capable of manufacturing them inside South Africa.
Investigators are now working to establish the full scale of the Hartbeespoort operation, the value and quantity of drugs recovered and whether other people are linked to the property.
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