POLOKWANE – A day out drinking with friends turned into a nightmare for a Westcliff man after their drinks were allegedly laced with a new synthetic street drug called ‘Flakka’ at a bar in Pinetown on October 28, reports the Chatsworth Rising Sun
Flakka, sometimes known as gravel, is closely related to bath salts, a synthetic cathinone, which comes as a foul-smelling white or pink crystal that you can snort, eat, inject or even vape.
Please note the following video is not for sensitive viewers:
Brandon Naidoo* (24) was stabilised at Life Chatsmed Hospital and later transferred to RK Khan Hospital where he was hospitalised for three days while his friends, Denzil Govender* (21) and Pravesh Pillay* (26) were also admitted following bizarre behaviour, agitation, frothing from the mouth, and paranoia.
After they were treated and stabilised, Naidoo’s family members notified a member of the Metro Police Rapid Response Unit, who assisted with setting up a joint operation with the National Intervention Unit and the Metro Police Dog Unit to apprehend the dealer of the deadly new drug.
A 32-year-old Nigerian man was arrested during the operation and was charged for dealing in the drug (Flakka). Speaking about the horrific ordeal, Naidoo, the father of a three-year-old boy, said that this was the worst thing that ever happened to him.
Naidoo added, “We were told by our friends, neighbours and family members that we behaved bizarrely. All three of us were climbing trees, walls and hallucinating. I vaguely remember seeing my friends frothing. I didn’t know that I was also frothing at the time. I could see that they were in trouble but I could not react to help them and they said they felt the same,” he said.
You can read the full story at our sister newspaper Chatsworth Rising Sun.
*Names were changed to protect the identity of the victims.
