A PANEL beating business in Mount Edgecombe was at the centre of a major bust on Monday after members of Reaction Unit South Africa (RUSA) found a car with cocaine and counterfeit cash parked in the area. According to Prem Balram, spokesman for RUSA, a tip-off from an informer alerted the security company to the car’s presence. The incident occurred at about 11:45am.
“The informer told us a vehicle brought in for polishing at the panel beater’s contained drugs in the trunk. The car, a grey Ford Figo, was found parked at a far corner of the business park. Officers then requested the key from the panel beating shop and found two large black bags stuffed with notes in R200 and R100 denominations in the boot.
SAPS Verulam also responded to the scene and found two bags containing powder, thought to be cocaine. The money, vehicle and suspected drugs were taken to the Verulam Police station where it was counted, totalling R3 265 000, and the powder weighed 4.8 kilograms. The notes were confirmed to be counterfeit,” he said.
Balram added an investigation is underway and several people, including the driver, the panel beating company and the car rental company (allegedly based at King Shaka Airport) are part of the investigation to establish how the car changed hands and no one noticed several million ‘Rands’ in notes lying in the boot.
In a similar incident in Glenashley almost a week ago, a suspected scam artist was caught on CCTV during two recent counterfeit money-scamming incidents in the area.
