An alleged drug trafficker who tried to smokkel mandrax pille worth R2.5 million into the Western Cape is behind bars thanks to wakker cops.
Hawks spokesperson Zinzi Hani says the 59-year-old man was busted during a multidisciplinary operation conducted by the Hawks Serious Organised Crime Investigation team based in George and Beaufort West K9 on Thursday morning.
She says the man was found to be transporting the drug in a secret compartment inside his Toyota Grande and was caught at a vehicle checkpoint.
“This comes after a vehicle checkpoint conducted by the team this morning to check on impaired drivers,” Hani adds.
“The arrest happened early hours of Wednesday morning.
“It is reported that the 59-year-old approached the checkpoint driving a silver Toyota Grande.
“The vehicle was then removed for secondary inspection. The team revealed that during the secondary inspection by the K-9 detection team alerted the team to a false compartment inside the vehicle.”
She says as the team inspected the compartment they found 50 packets containing mandrax pille hidden in the compartment with an estimated street value of over R2.5m.
Cash to the amount of R11 500 was also seized.
“The suspect is expected to appear in the Beaufort West Magistrate’s Court on Friday,” Hani says.
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