A R700,000 mandrax bust in Humewood had a sting in the tail – less than 24 hours after arresting an entire family on whose property the drugs were found, police dropped the charges against four of the suspects and provisionally withdrew the case against the fifth.
The bust, which netted 13,347 mandrax tablets and R103,450 in cash, came after a tip-off which led police to a house in Humewood Extension on Thursday afternoon.
According to police, the family of five, including the 57-year-old mother and 58-year-old father and their three children, aged 20, 24 and 26, were arrested inside the house, all for dealing in drugs.
By midday on Friday, the mother and father and two of the children – a son and a daughter – had been released from the Humewood police station cells while the remaining son, 24, was taken to court.
According to police, the National Prosecuting Authority declined to prosecute the 24year-old until forensic results came back telling them exactly who had handled the drugs.
Police confirmed that the father is self-employed and does odd jobs around the Bay.
When The Herald visited the house on Friday, it was locked, with a car parked in the driveway and another outside.
The gates were locked and a for-sale board was outside.
Residents in the street were shocked at the arrest.
“I am shocked. I saw about six police vans there in the afternoon. Myself and some other neighbours in the street went to look what was happening.
“There were so many police that we thought they had been attacked inside their home,” a visibly shocked neighbour said.
“After a while we were told it was drug-related. I am so shocked. I have been here for more than 10 years and they were here before I moved in.
“I have watched their children grow up and just cannot believe it.”
The resident said the house had been on the market since about September.
Another resident, a few houses away, said he also saw police cars outside the house until late on Thursday night.
“I heard about the drugs. I cannot believe it. I bumped into him [the husband] a few weeks ago and he told me that they were selling [the Humewood Extension home] and buying a plot somewhere in Port Elizabeth where they were building a house,” he said.
“It is bizarre because you never really saw visitors at the house and they never had any parties or did anything out of the ordinary.”
The estate agent selling the house, who declined to be named, said she had been trying to get hold of the family since Thursday afternoon as an offer had been put in.
“He called shortly before 5pm saying that he was running late and I must come around at about 6.30pm.
“I then called several times since then and they have not answered,” she said.
“I am shocked. They are really the nicest family. Their house was also spotless.”
Police spokesperson Brigadier Tembinkosi Kinana said the raid came after undercover police staked out the house from noon on Thursday.
“Police then moved in and during the search of the premises about 16 bags of mandrax tablets were found hidden in several locations around the house,” he said.
“They were found hidden in the outside Wendy house, garage and in suitcases inside the main house.”
Kinana said the drugs were believed to have been driven through from Khayelitsha in Cape Town earlier that day.
“We are investigating where the drugs were going and who they were going to supply.
“Due to the quantity found at the house, detectives believe the drugs are supplied to other local dealers,” he said.
Asked if any connections had been made to northern area gangsters, Kinana said that it was subject to investigation.
Kinana said four of the suspects had been released due to insufficient evidence.
The fifth was charged and taken to court.
“The case was provisionally withdrawn pending a forensic report and the investigation continues,” he said.
The case has since been taken over by the provincial organised crime unit.
Police suspect part of the reason for the spike in gang violence is due to drug-related turf wars in the northern areas.
Provincial police head Lieutenant-General Liziwe Ntshinga in a statement warned drug traffickers that police would stop at nothing to cripple their “lucrative trade”.
“There is no higher calling than defeating drug traffickers who undermine the wellbeing and welfare of our people.”