LIMPOPO – Provincial Police Spokesperson, LT. Colonel Moatshe Ngoepe, says the fight against drugs in the province is being accelerated.
According to Ngoepe, various policing units, including narcotics, crime intelligence and organised crime units and detectives from various clusters have been operating together since Friday (24 March) to crack down on criminals.
In the Lephalale Cluster, a 54-year-old farmer was arrested on Redbaan farm in the Swartwater area outside Lephalale for cultivating cannabis (dagga), after information was received that the farmer kept dagga plants in eco-tunnels (greenhouses) on the farm.
During the arrest, 2 300 cannabis plants with an estimated value of R350 000 were confiscated.
An operation in Bela Bela, led to the arrest of a 40-year-old man and the following was recovered:
- 120 balls of cat with an estimated street value of R60 000
- crystal meth with an estimated street value of R1 000
- R14 500 cash
Meanwhile in Lephalale, a 25-year-old man was arrested for possession of illegal drugs. Police confiscated 57 sachets of dagga.
In Ohrigstad outside Burgersfort, police pulled over a suspicious Mazda bakkie and confiscated eight bags of dagga with an estimated street value of R20 000. The occupants of the bakkie aged 20 and 26 were arrested for possession of illegal substances. A 26-year-old man in Thabazimbi was arrested with 85 bags of dagga, and three more suspects in Mankweng aged 23, 25 and 32 were arrested after being found in possession of dagga.
Two more people in the Letsitele area were arrested after police found recovered an unknown quantity of dagga on their person.
All the suspects will appear before different Magistrate’s Courts tomorrow (Tuesday).
Police investigations are ongoing.
