Angella Johnson
Police say they are beginning to make significant inroads in the fight against organised crime, following the arrest of a seven-man gang in connection with the manufacture of mandrax tablets.
The men, including a British chemist, were nabbed last Monday after a month-long police surveillance operation in Lichtenberg unearthed a major drug- making factory.
Officers from the South African Narcotics Bureau, Pretoria’s organised crime unit and local police raided a farm on the outskirts of the town and smashed a major drugs ring.
Five men were arrested at the farm in the North-West province. Two other suspects were arrested later in Bryanston, Johannesburg.
Methaqualone power (the key ingredient for Mandrax) and other chemicals needed to make tablets with a street value of R11-million were seized, along with two large pressing machines and a mandrax recipe.
Superintendent Bobby Sinden of the organised crime unit said police had been monitoring the gang’s activities since November, but had to wait for them to set up the factory and move in the chemicals.
He described it as one of the biggest police busts for some time and said it was only the beginning of future successes against crime syndicates in the country.
The suspects are: Mohammed Ibrahim, Sidney Frankel, Yunus Patel, Godfrey Motswane, Naxeer Moorad, Abdul Kala and Paul Setka.