GARDEN ROUTE NEWS - Good progress was made in the fight against drug use and drug trafficking in the Knysna region this year with a number of drug busts carried out by police recently.
The busts form part of the police's ongoing battle with the local drug trade.
While there have been a large number of arrests across the Southern Cape, Knysna and Plettenberg Bay in particular have been hives of activity in drug trading over the past two months.
According to various press releases that KPH has received from the Southern Cape police media office, there have been at least six drug busts and subsequent arrests between the two towns in June and July thus far.
During these busts six suspects have been arrested and charged with various drug-related offences varying between possession of drugs, dealing in drugs, and even cultivation of drugs.
The most commonly confiscated drugs during these busts are tik and Mandrax, which feature in half of the arrests. There has also been confiscation of magic mushrooms and marijuana.
The largest bust occurred on 15 June in Plett, where 1 786 tablets of Mandrax with an estimated street value of R90 000 were found in the home of a 48-year-old Kwanokuthula resident.
The suspect was arrested for dealing in drugs. Another large operation occurred on 17 June when police confiscated 446 grams of magic mushrooms at a house in Gordon Street, Knysna.
The estimated worth of the drugs is R46 000 and a 36-year-old suspect was arrested for the cultivation of drugs. The average age of the suspects arrested in these six cases is 35.
Recent operations have led to the arrest of nearly 500 suspects in the Southern Cape for various offences.
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