The police are nothing without the community and in Limpopo, this truth was illustrated perfectly when a farm in Marblehall was raided and drugs worth R10 million were confiscated.
Community helps police take down Marbehall drug farm
According to police spokesperson Brigadier Motlafela Mojapelo, murmurs had grown loud about illicit activity taking place at the farm.
Even more alarming was the fact that the owner of the property, the prime suspect in the drug investigation, had purchased the Marblehall farm for millions of rand in hard cash.
This transaction, coupled with intel from members of the Marblehall community, gave Limpopo authorities enough probable cause to execute a search warrant on the property on the evening of Tuesday 16 June.
“The information that was received from community members under Marblehall policing precinct was put to fruition when police members attached to the Tekkie squad from Dennilton and members from Marblehall police station followed it up and discovered the drug laboratory on the said farm,” Mojapelo noted in a statement.
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Limpopo million-rand drug bust: Here’s what was seized
Sure enough, Limpopo authorities struck gold. A large consortium of illicit drugs was found on the farm. A search that began at 21:00 ended in the wee hours of Wednesday morning with the following items discovered:
- R10 million worth of drugs;
- two pistols and two shotguns;
- seven shotgun ammunition;
- ten 9mm rounds of ammunition;
- drug manufacturing chemicals; and
- drug manufacturing equipment
Unfortunately, the squad was only able to arrest two suspects. It is believed that the vastness of the farm allowed other unidentified suspects passage to escape. However, a manhunt has been launched and more arrests are expected soon.
“Preliminary police investigations revealed that more suspects could have been on the farm and this necessitated a massive manhunt. Due to the vastness of the area and a bushy environment some of the suspects managed to evade arrest,” Brigadier Mojapelo added.
‘A major dent for drug syndicates in SA’ – Mj-Gen Jan Scheepers
A drug bust of this magnitude would hurt any syndicate. This, for Limpopo’s Acting Police Commissioner Major General Jan Scheepers, was a massive win in the fight against drugs in South Africa.
“This drug laboratory has the capacity to supply the entire country with illicit drugs and therefore the police actions from Dennilton and Marblehall made a gigantic leap by arresting the suspects in the act,” he said.
The two suspects, aged 25 and 37, will appear in Marblehall Magistrates’ Court soon.