11 people have been arrested over the weekend in the Uthukela Cluster. The suspects, whose ages range between 18 and 50, were arrested in Ladysmith, Winterton, Ezakheni and Estcourt, as well as Amangwe. Another person was arrested today (Tuesday) in Colenso, taking the total number of arrests to 12.
Yesterday afternoon, officers from Colenso SAPS received information of a house in which drugs were allegedly being sold. They  found a 45-year-old man in possession of 800g of dagga. He was arrested and charged for dealing in dagga. He is expected to appear in the Colenso Magistrate’s Court soon.
The dagga has a street value of around R1000.
Some of the arrests happened in the early hours of Saturday morning, when a 24-year-old man was arrested in Lyell Street. Officers were acting on a tip-off when they searched the man. He was found in possession of an unlicensed revolver; the gun was not loaded with ammunition at the time. The firearm is subject to ballistic testing to ascertain if it was used in the commission of any crimes in the country. The suspect appeared in the Ladysmith Magistrate’s Court yesterday.
In the Khentani area of Winterton, three men were arrested in different incidents during ‘stop and search’ operations held by Winterton police on Friday.
 They were all found in possession of small quantities of dagga. The suspects all opted to pay admission of guilt fines. Also on Friday, in the Machibini area of Ezakheni, officers acted on a tip-off and arrested a 46-year-old woman with a small amount of dagga.
The suspect appeared  in the Ezakheni Magistrate’s Court yesterday (Monday).
On the same day in the Estcourt CBD, two men, aged 33 and 43, were arrested by police.
They were also found with small quantities of dagga and appeared in the Estcourt Magistrate’s Court on Monday.
A bigger bust was achieved on Friday when Amangwe police officers arrested two suspects aged 25 and 50.
The 25-year-old man was arrested in the Makekeni area after officers followed up on information concerning a case of burglary. In his house, they discovered four bags and a bucket of loose dagga. It weighed in at over 21kg and has a street value of around R32,000.
The 50-year-old suspect was caught in the Ngodini area. Officers were searching for a rape suspect when they came across two bags, a box and a bucket containing approximately 20kg of dagga and dagga seeds. The estimated street value of the drugs is around R30,000. Both suspects appeared in the Estcourt Magistrate’s Court on Monday.
