Acting on community complaints about chemical odours, police have dismantled a suspected drug laboratory valued at up to 250 million rand, hidden on a game farm in the small farming town of Swartruggens. Approximately a dozen suspects, including Mexican nationals, have been arrested.
The operation, led by the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation’s narcotics bureau, followed intelligence gathered after residents reported a spike in substance abuse in nearby Koster and Zeerust. Acting North West police commissioner Ryno Naidoo confirmed that investigators spent several days verifying the information before executing a search warrant.
“The team that did the takedown indicated this is about the largest operation they’ve seen in the country for a long time,” said Naidoo. “We have discovered a crystal meth laboratory, a huge quantity of chemicals, and on further searching of the property, we also found a gold processing plant with a lot of gold-bearing materials.”
Commissioner Naidoo told reporters at the scene that the 200-square-kilometre farm was fronting as a game lodge, complete with sufficient game. “The real business here was the drugs and the gold-bearing material,” he said.
According to Naidoo, 11 suspects have been arrested to date. “Three of them are South Africans, and the others are from Zimbabwe, Mozambique, as well as some of Spanish descent. We suspect that they are Mexicans, but we are in the process of verifying all those aspects.” He added that one Mexican female suspect was taken into custody minutes before a live media crossing at the scene.
The acting commissioner estimated the drug value at “in excess of 200 million, close to 250 million rand.” The value of the gold-bearing material remains under assessment, though Naidoo described the gold plant as “industrial scale on both sides.”
Community Safety MEC Wessels Morweng was also present at the scene alongside police spokesperson Adele Myburgh.
When asked about the owner of the property, Naidoo confirmed that the owner has been contacted and indicated he would hand himself over. “He is not at the moment here. He has been away for the weekend. We have some family members in custody who were on the property.”
Naidoo explained that remoteness favours such illegal manufacturing operations. “The area lends itself to it because they want privacy. They don’t want too much of people around. But the smells that were emanating is what alerted some members of the community that something is amiss.”
He noted that this is not the first drug lab uncovered in the province. “Last year there was a laboratory also by the same DPCI team that was taken down in Makapanstad in the rural areas there.”
Commissioner Naidu indicated that processing the crime scene could take up to a week, comparable to previous large-scale operations. “This is all evidence that has to one day be produced in court. The protocol has to be adhered to.”
Authorities have yet to verify the immigration status of the foreign nationals arrested or clarify the specific role of each suspect, including the female Mexican national taken into custody.
