Police Minister, Bheki Cele together with Durban police swooped on a drug laboratory in the upmarket suburb of Umhlanga in Durban.

The raid happened in the early hours of the morning, seizing drugs and a R100 000 in cash, before arresting the owner of the flat.

Cele and KwaZulu-Natal Police Commissioner Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi led the raid.

Cele expressed concern that the normally quiet residential bloc of flats near the Gateway Shopping Centre, where children are often seen playing on the balconies, had been a hiding place for a drug laboratory. He says forensic investigators are still to calculate the street value of the drugs.

“These guys who produce these things do not use them and their kids do not use them. They sell it to the townships to mess up the kids and young people but I must say we are very happy with the good job of the police – well done to the SAPS. Well they are producing what is like a mini laboratory, the estimate at the present moment we don’t know but there were some cash of about R100 000 but we will get the estimate and surely it will be much bigger when the guys have calculated the figures,” says Cele.

Mkhwanazi says police will intensify their investigations into these syndicates.

“I can only congratulate the members – they are working hard and this is not the end of it, we will continue trying to break more of these syndicates and hopefully we are going to rid our streets of crime. Our constitution says prevent crime, combat it and investigate. So basically our focus will make sure by all means we do everything possible to prevent crime, if possible to prevent crime. If they are able to produce more of these and sell them to the streets – they were going to commit crime we won’t stop doing this instead we will tighten up the screws.”