SMART thinking by a police member prevented a cocaine merchant from successfully flushing about R100 000 worth of hard drugs down an Arboretum toilet on Tuesday night.
And in an apparent first for Richards Bay, the suspect was found to be running a ‘crack kitchen’ from the granny flat attached to the Strelitzia Road house.
The drug bust came after painstaking work by the Richards Bay Organised Crime Unit, Empangeni Crime Intelligence and Richards Bay SAPS Border Security.
‘We approached the flat and identified ourselves as police, when the suspect slammed the gate and ran inside,’ said one of the drug bust team.
‘I realised his intention and ran to the back and smashed the toilet outlet waste pipe and put my hand inside as he flushed, immediately feeling plastic packets coming through.
‘I shouted for help and other members broke the pipe totally, which enabled us to get almost all the drugs.’
A search of the flatlet uncovered close to 400 grams of raw cocaine, which sells for about R400 per gram and is the main ingredient for making crack cocaine.
Some 35 blocks of crack cocaine were also found, each of which would sell for around R1 200 on the street.
Police also recovered 50 ecstasy tablets worth R2 500.
‘This is no small time operator, like a street dealer,’ said the cop.
‘This is a manufacturer and wholesale supplier, which is why, although he has been living here for 13 years, he has never once been arrested. He flew under the radar.’
Nigerian national, Christopher Ngwuyu appeared in the Richards Bay Magistrate’s Court on Wednesday.
