Two arrested for drug lab in Westonaria
Police uncovered a hidden drug lab on a Westonaria farm on the West Rand on Thursday, effecting an arrest of two males aged 49 and 51 years old.
Police executed a search and seizure warrant on the West Rand at a farm in Westonaria, where a clandestine drug laboratory was discovered
Cadaver dogs from the police’s K9 unit led officers to an isolated property where an estimated R10 million worth of mandrax was being processed.
When police moved in, they found the farm owner in the process of converting a powdered substance into a deadly, illicit drug.
Speaking to SABC News, Provincial Police Commissioner Tommy Mthombeni detailed the process used to make the drugs.
"The powder has to be manufactured, and then, in which sense, you have to have the machinery mixing it with different components, which eventually form a tablet."
He estimated that a clandestine drug lab generated nearly R300 million over three years.
Mtombeni added that the value of the operation, including profits, operating costs, and machinery sits at around R280 million.
ALSO READ
