A former Bonteheuwel cop was jailed for five years on multiple counts of defeating the ends of justice.
The disgraced police constable was also given a five-year suspended prison sentence for fraud.
Ashley Clint Munnik, 38, a married father of two, appeared in the Specialised Commercial Crime Court in Bellville on Monday, before magistrate Sabrina Sonnenberg.
The case took the form of a plea bargain.
The magistrate ordered that Munnik may be released from prison into house arrest, at the discretion of the prison authorities - but only after serving 40 months of the five years.
Munnik was the investigating officer in drug-related cases at the Bonteheuwel police station.
Between January and March last year, he had to hand in 10 parcels containing heroin, mandrax and tik at the forensic laboratory at Plattekloof, but failed to do so.
His failure caused the withdrawal of the 10 drug-related cases.
In another case, involving a suspect caught with 17 containers of tik, he was supposed to take the containers to the laboratory for forensic analysis, but only handed in five.
The prosecutor pointed out that Munnik had taken some of the drugs for his own personal use.
According to court papers, Munnik joined the police in 2008, and two years later started experimenting with drugs.
He only recently admitted his addiction, and would go for rehab after his release from prison, court papers said.