Stop and search nets R1m in drugs

A ROUTINE police operation on Joburg’s M2 Crown Mines highway nabbed an Ethiopian national with drugs valued at R1 million.

Gauteng police spokesperson Captain Mavela Masondo said members of the Johannesburg Flying Squad had conducted a stop-and-search operation yesterday on the highway, where a Hyundai H1 vehicle was stopped.

“They (police) found 34 boxes with so-called mirrar drugs packed in (them). The street value of the drugs is estimated at R1m. The police arrested the driver, who is a male of Ethiopian origin,” Masondo said.

He pointed out that mirrar drugs are like dagga, and sold and used mainly by people from north-east Africa and parts of the Asian subcontinent.

So brazen was the arrested driver that, according to Masondo, the suspect called his brother to the Joburg Central police station, where the brother attempted to bribe police officers.

“The brother came and offered the arresting officers R15 000…. The members of police then arrested the brother for bribery. Both males are in custody,” Masondo said.

This comes as police officers in Ekurhuleni conducted a drug sweep in Nigel on Friday, where two foreign nationals, who are aged 28 and 30, were arrested for dealing in drugs, according to local police spokesperson Sergeant Lerato Mngomezulu.

“The operation for the drug dealers’ raid started in the early hours of Friday, where different role-players were involved, such as the SAPS’s K9 narcotic dog unit, which had a positive result on the drugs found,” Mngomezulu said.

She added that another suspect, aged 39, and also a foreign national, was arrested during the blitz, during which suspected stolen property was also retrieved.

“Different items were found on both properties, including 319 small packages of drugs such as nyaope, rock, cocaine, cat (methcathinone), 84kg of dagga, crystal meth, four laptops, a cellphone, SIM cards and various documents found in a safe, which were also confiscated,” she said.