Police seized mandrax worth R2million. Picture: Hawks
Police seized an estimated R2 million worth of mandrax from a car on the N2 near Sir Lowry’s Pass on Friday.
The Directorate for Priority Crimes Investigation (known as the Hawks) said the vehicle was headed from the Eastern Cape to Cape Town when it was intercepted.
Provincial Hawks spokesperson Zinzi Hani said police received information about a vehicle that was transporting drugs.
“The vehicle was stopped and searched.
“On closer inspection, 50 packets of mandrax were found in a false compartment in the back of the vehicle and the driver was immediately arrested,” said Hani.
She said the 33-year-old suspect is expected to appear in the Strand Magistrate’s Court on Monday facing charges of dealing in drugs.
Mandrax is also known as buttons or quaalude. The substance has long been connected with the Western Cape, particularly the Cape Flats, with links to the illicit drug trafficking and gang conflicts dating back to the 1980s.
According to criminal specialist Simon Howell, mandrax is one of the most consistent substances in the province and in South Africa.
Howell added that the medicine was formerly utilised as a sleeping pill to treat problems including insomnia, as well as to help soldiers sleep during WWII.
“At the time you could buy quaaludes over the counter and in stores, it was produced at pharmacies and was legal,” said Howell.
“I don't know who or how the person discovered it could be crushed and used as a powder, but that’s how South Africa changed it.”
IOL News
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