The six men arrested in connection with the drug trade plaguing the communities of Phoenix and Chatsworth have been granted bail ranging between R10 000 and R20 000 by the regional courts.
The arrests came after a year-long investigation by the KwaZulu-Natal police.
Members of the Hawks Serious Organised Crime Investigation alongside Crime Intelligence, Durban metro police and customs announced the arrest of the six suspects.
The Hawks’ provincial spokesperson, Simphiwe Mhlongo, said the suspects, aged between 31 and 61, were arrested on Friday for dealing in drugs following and intensive investigation by their members, after the public outcry over the prevalence of drugs, especially in the community of Chatsworth unit 11.
Mhlongo said numerous undercover operations were conducted and the suspects were positively identified.
The suspects were arrested in possession of heroin capsules and pieces of crack cocaine with a street value of R110 000, along with an unregistered BMW X6, being confiscated.
Customs further seized master cases of cigarettes to the street value of R860 000.
The recent arrests come as a welcome development given that police statistics show that there was a 5.1% increase in drug-related crime in KwaZulu-Natal in the first quarter of the 2023/24 financial year as compared with the same period a year before.
Law enforcement authorities have in recent months made a number of significant drug busts, especially around the ports in and around the Durban area.
Some of the biggest hauls by authorities include the seizures of cocaine worth more than R150 million at the Durban Harbour during early December.
Police Minister Bheki Cele announced at the time that law enforcement agencies had during November and December intercepted drugs worth half a billion rand at the Durban Harbour alone.
Mhlongo said the six suspects, namely Ashwin Hira, Nkanyiso Manzi, Deshan Veersamy, Klyton Moodley, Delon Govender and Wesley Moonsamy, were each granted bail ranging between R20 000, R10 000 and R15 000 respectively by the Durban and Chatsworth courts.
They will return to court on June 26.
The Star