SOUTH African police has confiscated more than 1,5 million tablets of the hypnotic drug Mandrax worth $8,5-million dollars in an upmarket suburb north of Johannesburg. Police on Thursday raided two homes in Sandton, about 12 kilometres north of the city centre, which had been used as a Mandrax factory, the Johannesburg-based The Star reported. Inside the homes, police found the drugs hidden in boxes, concealed with bathroom tiles at the top and the bottom. Police representative, Senior Superintendent Martin Aylward, said seven suspects — two Chinese nationals and five Kenyans — were arrested in the raid, which he said was “intelligence driven”, but did not elaborate. Mandrax is a methaqualone-based hypnotic drug in tablet form, which South African police confiscate regularly in anti-drug operations. – AFP
Thursday January 3, 2001