Durban - Police swooped on an elaborate hydroponic dagga laboratory in Camperdown on Monday, seizing cannabis worth R2 million and 365 plants.
Two women and two men were arrested in what is believed to be a syndicated operation stretching across three neighbouring properties.
“The drug was in various stages of cultivation; some packed and ready to hit the market while the rest was still in pots, being grown. The dagga was on three smallholdings in Killarney Valley,” police spokesman Thulani Zwane said.
He said the Hilton Flying Squad received a tip-off on Monday morning and, in conjunction with the Pietermaritzburg tactical response team, the Alexandra crime prevention unit and Camperdown SAPS, watched the houses.
“They stormed the properties simultaneously,” he said. “Four people were arrested in the houses – all South Africans aged 34 (two), 33 and 27.”
Zwane said 365 plants and processed hydroponic dagga weighing 7.106kg with an estimated street value of R2m, were seized. Two laptops, hydroponic equipment and R17 000 cash were also seized.
Hydroponics is a method of growing plants indoors using mineral nutrients in water, without soil.
This was the second bust in Camperdown in five months. In August, the KwaDukuza cluster task team, its public order policing unit and their Chatsworth crime intelligence colleagues found what was described as a “sophisticated drug lab” on the New Forest Farm, in Bisley near Umlaas Road.
One man, apparently an employee of the operation’s mastermind, was arrested at the house. It was unclear if the mastermind was arrested.
Zwane was unable to say if there was a link between the busts.
Those arrested would appear in the Camperdown magistrate’s court today on charges of possession, cultivating and dealing in dagga.
The Mercury