Durban - Ten drug factories operating from upmarket suburban homes and holiday flats in KwaZulu-Natal have been discovered and closed by police this year and more than R30 million in contraband seized.
But, police say they are fighting an uphill battle in curbing these plants as drug kingpins – in their drive to supply South Africa’s insatiable drug demand – open another as quickly as one is shut down.
Police are now pleading with landlords, estate agents and suburban residents to be their ears and eyes to stop the “backyard chemists” from plying their trade.
“It’s a cat and mouse game,” Captain Devan Moodley, a senior narcotics investigator at the police’s elite crime unit, the Hawks, told the Daily News.
“We dismantle a drug lab today and take R10 million off the streets, but the druglords know that, all they need to do to make that R10 million back is open another lab. It is a high-risk game for them, but they know that the rewards are even greater,” he said.
Since the beginning of the year, Moodley’s crack team of detectives have shut suburban drug laboratories in Margate, La Lucia, Ballito, Hillcrest, Pinetown and one in an upmarket flat at the Point waterfront.
Fifty men were arrested during the raids and the cases against them are at various stages in court.
Crime analysts believe that drug syndicates are moving their operations to suburban homes in the belief that the high walls, quiet streets and neighbours who keep to themselves bring them less attention from police.
Moodley said that they first discovered illegal drug laboratories in 1994 when the west African syndicates moved into the CBD and set up “kitchen laboratories” where they converted cocaine powder into a cocaine base.
“The labs were not sophisticated at all. We found labs all over the Point and St George’s (Street) area. Due to the pressure from the police, they moved into suburban areas but retained their customer base in the CBD,” he said.
Moodley said KZN’s lucrative drug trade, supplied by these suburban factories, were controlled by three main syndicates: the west Africans with crack cocaine, the “White syndicates” who controlled hydroponic dagga and the “Indian syndicates” who controlled the “sugars” and whoonga trade.
Most of these syndicates operated from homes and holiday flats that they rented on short-term leases which they usually paid for upfront and in cash.
“The tell-tale signs landlords and community members should be aware of, especially for the syndicates that run these kitchen laboratories, is that there is usually a lot of activity at the house by a number of men when they are packaging the drugs.
“For the hydroponic labs, they usually cover the windows with paper so that the natural light does not come in.
“Landlords should also look out if their electricity and water bill suddenly skyrockets. The reason for this is that they run fans and air conditioners the whole day and night, while for the hydroponic dealers, they also use halogen lights all day and night,” he said.
National police spokesman, Brigadier Vishnu Naidoo, said police across the country had scored major victories against the drug syndicates and were not letting up.
Many of the raids on suburban drug homes were conducted as a result of crime intelligence – an area that they were beefing up.
“The national commissioner has made a commitment to enhancing the intelligence environment of the police. We have since appointed 25 senior managers and, by the end of this financial year, we will be looking at appointing 900 members in the intelligence environment. That capacity is improving and it is already having a positive effect. We are coming down hard on serious crime and drugs,” he said.
Naidoo urged the community to join the police in fighting drugs and crime, saying that they could not do it alone.
“We have a 24-hour crime line that the community can use to report suspicious activity. All information will be kept in strict confidence. We encourage people to call us at 08600 10111.”
Daily News