City raids net 8 drug dealers R60m in cocaine, cat seized
OLICE were staking out a house in Centurion last night when the drug dealer they were looking for crashed right next to them.
The suspect, fearing the police were looking for him, immediately sprinted from his car, arousing the suspicion of the officers, who had not immediately realised he was the man they were looking for.
So they chased and apprehended him, and found drugs in his car.
The man’s arrest, which happened in the early evening, set off a dominolike succession of drug busts across the area.
It resulted in four drug dens being raided, eight dealers being arrested and an estimated R60 million worth of cocaine and cat being seized.
Gauteng police spokesman Lieutenant-Colonel Lungelo Dlamini said that after police captured the first suspect and found drugs in his car, he led them to his townhouse in Wierda Park where they found more drugs.
After an interrogation, the suspect took police to another townhouse unit in the quiet complex of Abrazo in Zwartkop, Centurion.
Neighbours peered wide-eyed from their living rooms when police arrived and began raiding a unit.
A second suspect was arrested after they found drugs hidden within the couches and the sound system. They also found scales and measuring equipment for drugs.
The second suspect, who had reportedly been living in the complex for only two months, informed the police of more suspects, who had another drug storage house in the
Psame complex.
Police trampled neighbours’ gardens as they charged to the second townhouse, where they tried to gain access through the front door.
Police fired a warning shot and the three suspects ran from the back door of the duplex unit.
But police cut them off and dragged them back inside, where they found numerous small packets of cocaine hidden in one of the suspect’s trousers.
Several cellphones, SIM cards and two laptops were seized.
When police switched on the laptops they were greeted with the message: “You have won money on the UK
KOCK Lottery.” This led them to believe that the suspects may also have been involved in 419 scams. One of the suspects lay on the ground shouting: “This isn’t me!” But the police simply shoved the evidence in his face.
The police then went to a fourth house in Sunnyside, where they arrested three more suspects and found more drugs.
Dlamini said the investigation of a wider syndicate was ongoing and the suspects would all appear in court within 48 hours.
He said the total value of the seized drugs had yet to be properly investigated, but early estimates were that it was R60m.