Police have seized more than R1.5 million worth of mandrax and heroin during a raid in the Durban Central area.
The Durban flying squad, the narcotics task team, SAPS crime intelligence operatives, the Durban Central K9 unit, and the Durban metro police dog unit were involved in the operation on Wednesday.
Police spokesman, Colonel Jay Naicker, said: “At 10am, five men, who are allegedly runners for the drug dealers, were arrested. They were each found with straws of heroin.
“At 8.30pm, police arrested a man carrying 400 straws of heroin. After questioning him, police were led to another man, who was carrying 6 000 straws of the drug.”
Police were then led to a flat in North Beach where they seized several plastic packets and a five-litre bucket containing tablets, capsules, straws, and powders.
“We suspect that mandrax is bought in powder form and processed and combined with a bulking agent before being moulded into tablets or packed into straws,” said Naicker.
Capsules
“The packets contained 1 758 mandrax tablets, 3 358 white capsules filled with mandrax powder, 1 854 straws of mandrax, and 35 plastic parcels, each containing about 50g of mandrax powder. The buckets contained about 2.5kg of heroin.”
Naicker said the total street value of all the seized drugs was more than R1.5m.
Police also confiscated R48 000, believed to be the proceeds of drugs, and impounded a luxury car.
Equipment used to manufacture, process and package drugs was also seized.
“All the seized substances will be sent to the forensic science laboratory to determine if they are indeed drugs, what drugs have been identified, and to try and identify the bulking agents used,” said Naicker.
The seven men will appear in the Durban Magistrate’s Court soon.
“This is a major breakthrough in our war against drugs,” Naicker said.