Durban - A multi-disciplinary police task force, comprising the KwaZulu-Natal Anti-Gangs Unit, the National Intervention Unit along with the Durban Metro police raided the home of an alleged Chatsworth drug kingpin and gang leader during the early hours of Friday morning.
Using the cover of darkness, the police arrived in a large convoy outside the home of the alleged leader of the notorious 11th Street gang on Train Road in Chatsworth.
Armed with a search warrant, the police, many of them in balaclavas and armed with automatic weapons, breached the outside of the home shortly after midnight.
With their torches slicing through the darkness the police went in search for the alleged leader, placing several of his henchman - who were caught unaware - on their stomachs as they searched the premises.
The alleged kingpin, who, from signs outside his home runs a logistics business and car buying and selling business was also wanted for murder and conspiracy to commit murder.
He was found in one of the rooms and after the premises was checked, was placed under arrest and taken to unmarked police vehicle outside.
In a dramatic turn of events however, while en route to the police station, the alleged gang boss was said to have become ill and detectives had to rush him to a nearby hospital where doctors said he had a suspected heart attack.
He was admitted into hospital and is under police guard.
He is expected to be charged in absentia.
According to police sources, the 11th Street gang has built up an extensive drug wholesaling network that extends beyond Chatsworth.
The gang has gained notoriety for allegedly carrying out drive-by on its rivals in Chatsworth and Shallcross for control of the lucrative drug trade.
The alleged gang leader who was arrested by the Anti-Gang unit early Friday has also been linked to the 2008 drive-by shooting of 31-year-old Gerald Arumugan who was gunned down in a hail of bullets in Chatsworth.
Arumugan was part of the Dre Boys gang, who have been in a long-standing turf war with the 11th Street gang.
According to police sources, the arrests are part of sustained campaign by KwaZulu-Natal police to break the stranglehold gangs have in some communities by going after the kingpins.
IOL