Police have arrested an alleged drug dealer selling drugs to schoolchildren in Plumstead, Cape Town, Western Cape police said.
“After numerous complaints from the Diep River community and neighbourhood watches, Diep River SA Police Service conducted observation duties at the area of complaint,” spokesman Captain FC van Wyk said.
“It was observed that schoolchildren in school uniform were buying drugs close to a petrol station in the Plumstead neighbourhood,” he said.
An application was made to the prosecuting authority for an undercover trap operation. The application was approved and executed on Friday.
“The operation was successful with the arrest of one foreign national, aged 29, and the seizure of dagga (cannabis). More investigation concerning children buying drugs is underway.”
The man would appear in the Wynberg Magistrate’s Court on Monday on charges of drug trafficking, Van Wyk said.
In a statement on Saturday evening, the South African Civic Organisation (Sanco) lauded the arrest of the dealer.
“Clean-up operations of this nature need to be intensified to reclaim schools, streets, as well as neighbourhoods from drug dealers and gangsters,” Sanco national spokesman Jabu Mahlangu said.
Drugs had to be stamped out to protect children from addiction that would draw them to the hopeless life of criminality and the cycle of violence.
He urged the community to expose those behind the drug trade and the criminal justice system to ensure that the arrested suspect was not granted bail.
“Harsher sentences for drug dealers will serve as a deterrent,” Mahlangu said.
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