Cape Town - Cape Town law enforcement officers were confronted by snarling pit bulls when they tried to enter a suspected drug house in Lavender Hill on Tuesday.
Growling and barking, the pit bulls were set on the officers, forcing them to fire at the dogs to get in.
After repeatedly asking the owner to tell the dogs to back down, officers were left with little choice and fired rubber bullets at the two dogs charging at them.
One of the dogs was hit in the back leg, according to one of the occupants of the house.
This was the third of four houses in Lavender Hill visited during the operation by the city.
The strategy of using dogs to hinder access to suspected drug properties is becoming more popular, according to mayoral committee member for safety and safety JP Smith.
“The incident with the dogs is something we are starting to see more and more, where they either use the animals as a delaying tactic while they flush the drugs or to try to intimidate our staff.”
After several attempts to gain access, the lock of the house was opened with a crowbar, and after the face-off with the dogs a makeshift dagga growing laboratory was discovered on the property.
“A yet-to-be-determined amount of cash as well as hundreds of plastic packets used for packaging drugs were also found. Four suspects were taken into custody on a charge of cultivating dagga.”
Smith added they also focused on “potential problem” buildings - spaza shops that were a front for criminal activities.
“The suspects also tried to stash a scale and some tik in a sewerage pipe outside and mask it with dog excrement to keep our staff from searching the pipe.”
He said the operation was part of a broader strategy in the metropole.
“Similar operations in areas like Hanover Park and Manenberg have yielded very positive results, but have also bolstered public confidence to the point where we are seeing more and more members of the public coming forward with useful information about criminal activity.”
In Ottery no houses were searched, but random stop-and-searches were conducted on the street.
Ottery Community Policing Forum chairman Faldie Bassardien said residents were becoming more vigilant about drug-related activity and that social media was helping to spread the message.
People used WhatsApp “as a walkie-talkie-like device” to report crime.
“A lot of the drug activities happen in open spaces like fields and parks, but there are houses that are also suspected of being involved in drug activities.”
Bassardien said they appreciated the operations because they made dealers “aware that there is activity from the police and that there are contributions to curb the drug problem”.
He added that residents were becoming better at communicating about the drug problem.
Smith said their statistics from such operations were on the rise.
“In 2014, the metro police made more than 2 000 drug-related arrests in spite of limited resources and an ever-growing list of priorities that require attention - some outside of the department’s legal mandate.
“Many of the drug- and firearm-related arrests came about as a result of our interventions in gang hot spots, and bear testimony to the hard work that our staff are putting in on the ground. If not for our firearm confiscations, who’s to say how many more people might have been on the receiving end of a bullet from one of those weapons?”
Cape Argus