Tshwane metro police have made a historic breakthrough in their fight against drugs following the arrest of two suspects transporting compressed dagga estimated to be valued at over R1.5-million.
The two men were allegedly travelling from Mbombela, Mpumalanga en route to Johannesburg when they were apprehended on the N1 highway next to Centurion on Wednesday, August 28 following a tip-off.
The suspects concealed the dagga in a diesel tank to avoid raising suspicion, however, through a swift response from the metro police, the vehicle was stopped and the dagga was found after a thorough search.
The TMPD Chief of police Yolanda Faro said this was the biggest drug bust in Tshwane.
“We are still verifying the quantity of the dagga, but the estimated street value is R1.5-million. This is one of the largest drug busts for TMPD and we are very proud of the unit.”
The two arrested suspects, aged between 30 and 37, have been charged with possession and drug trafficking.
Faro said the TMPD drug unit got an anonymous tip-off.
“We are still investigating the origin of the dagga, but we know the drugs were transported from Nelspruit and [they] were heading to Johannesburg.”
Faro said the drugs were put in a diesel trailer tank so that a police dog could not sniff it out. However, with the TMPD drug unit’s expertise, they managed to discover the dagga.
She added in terms of dealing with drugs in Tshwane, the TMPD is working very closely with the police as they have crime intelligence and other law enforcement agencies.
“We have a drug unit which solely focuses on drugs and [is] identifying drug houses in the community so that we clean the capital city,” Faro said.
She added that they are also working with the community in other operations and following up on tip-offs.
“We get information from the public and we will continuously follow up on any tip-off.”
She said TMPD will strengthen their drug bursting operations to clean the streets.
“We will not only wait for tip-offs get all the boots on the ground to fight drugs.”
Faro encouraged people to report any incident of drug dealing.
“We can assure the community that together we can fight this scourge.”
She said the case is still under investigation.
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