Chemicals used to manufacture the street drug CAT were seized by police who arrested two men in an early morning raid on a house in Randburg.
Director Henriette Bester said the house had been under surveillance by the police special task force for the last two weeks and the men were arrested at 2.15am on Thursday as they returned from making a drug deal.
Forensic experts from Pretoria seized chemicals identified as methcathenone, hydrochloric acid, petroleum ether, acetone and caustic soda which are the components of CAT.
Police narcotics detectives said CAT was a highly addictive cheap substitute for cocaine and heroin and was sold on the street for about R120 a gram.
Detectives estimated the turnover from one factory to be in the region of R200 000 a month.
The two men arrested, both South Africans aged 28, would appear in the Randburg Magistrate’s Court on Friday, Bester said. – Sapa