Residents in the quiet suburban street of Bohmer Road in New Germany were shocked to the core on Friday as the elite Hawks – Organised Crime Unit and Crime Intelligence officers swooped on what is believed to be the biggest hallucinogenic “magic mushroom” laboratory in the country.
A 59-year-old man was arrested at the scene.
The drive leading down to the modest house was cordoned off with police tape.
Flower pots and wicker chairs on the trellis-covered veranda gave the impression of a perfectly pleasant older couple living in gentle confines of suburbia, yet behind the house are four or five buildings hidden by bushes housing a massive drug operation which police say may well have been running for up to 10 years.
Even experienced officers at the scene were staggered by the scale of the operation.
The garage and the outhouses were packed with “magic mushrooms” in various stages of cultivation – from germinating spores to the dried end-product in vacuum-packs.
At the scene, Colonel AK Hoosen from the Hawks – Organised Crime Unit said they had not yet estimated a street value, but were waiting for a botanist to arrive before the operation could be fully quantified and the value of the drug haul calculated.
“This is the first major plant of its kind in the country producing magic mushrooms in such a controlled environment and in the middle of a suburb.
“It was a long investigation along with officers from Crime Intelligence and we believe this laboratory could well be the source supplying all the drug suppliers around the country,” said Hoosen.
Police officers clothed in white suits and masks were at the scene collecting evidence, while six employees of the suspect sat in the yard waiting to be questioned.
Inside the house was the study where the walls were covered with pictures and information on mushrooms, while there were piles of stacked literature on the same subject. Officers said the suspect had obviously done extensive research and had created the hygienic environment necessary to cultivate such mushrooms.
Magic mushrooms, known as shrooms, caps or buttons, are an hallucinogenic drug which produces a similar effect to LSD and a “bang” costs about R80 on the street. They can be eaten raw, dried, cooked in food or stewed in tea.
Police also confirmed they had seized an envelope from the house which had been collected from the post office yesterday morning.
It contained five different mushroom spores which had been sent from America.
The suspect is expected to appear in the Pinetown Magistrate’s Court on Monday. - Independent on Saturday