Eastern Cape police have arrested a total of 13 people including several suspected drug kingpins in swoops in several cities and towns and as far away as Cape Town.
National Police spokesperson, Brigadier Vishnu Naidoo, said the arrests, carried out from early Thursday morning, was a culmination of an extensive year-long, intelligence-driven project dubbed ‘Project Damage’.
He during the investigation eight suspects were arrested in the areas of Cape Town, King Williams Town, Mdantsane, Port Alfred, East London, Berlin and Peddie all in the Eastern Cape.
“Several properties including a farm, five houses, a butchery, three luxury cars, other sedans and two bakkies that are believed to be the proceeds of drug trafficking, are in the process of being seized by the State,” he said.
Naidoo said since the early hours Thursday morning members of the multidisciplinary team conducted further operations that resulted in the arrest of five suspects in the areas of Port St Johns, Peddie and a farm in Berlin, bringing the total number of arrests to 13 in this project alone.
“On the farm in Berlin, the police arrested a 53-year-old man, recovered 10 000 Mandrax tablets, seized five vehicles of which one was a VW Golf that had been reported hijacked in 2012 in the Point area, another that belonged to the suspect but had been reported stolen apparently to defraud the insurance company, and the remaining three were reported stolen,” Naidoo said.
“The team also seized approximately R250 000,00 which is believed to be the proceeds of drug sales. This property too, will be forfeited to the State. More arrests are imminent,” said.
The announcement of the arrests was made in East London coinciding with a visit by Police Minister, Fikile Mbalula and National Commissioner of the South African Police Service, General KJ Sitole.
