A massive alcohol destruction operation was undertaken at Alberton SAPS on March 25. Large quantities of alcohol confiscated from shebeens and illegal liquor outlets in several Ekurhuleni policing precincts were destroyed.

Police stations involved in the operation were Tsakane SAPS, Nigel SAPS, Alberton SAPS, Thokoza SAPS, Elsberg SAPS, Primrose SAPS, Brackendowns SAPS, Kempton Park SAPS, Norkem Park SAPS, Tembisa SAPS, Tembisa South SAPS, Vosloorus SAPS, Crystal Park SAPS, Daveyton SAPS, and others from Ekurhuleni.

They gathered at Alberton SAPS to destroy the confiscated alcohol.

Leading the destruction was Captain Hewitt from Ekurhuleni District SAPS, who is also the coordinator of Firearms, Liquor, and Second-hand goods (FLASH).

Commenting on the operation, Hewitt said: “We have more than 17 police stations that have gathered here at Alberton SAPS with alcohol seized from various illegal liquor outlets in Alberton and other areas in the Ekurhuleni metro. So we are destroying the alcohol as a combined district operation.”

Police vans and mini trucks drove into the police station with hundreds of crates of confiscated alcohol.

Officers then offloaded the liquor from the vehicles, opened the bottles and canned alcohol, and poured it into the station’s many catch drainage basins.

The liquor included beers, ciders, spirits, and bottled Umqombothi, a traditional, thick, and sour South African beer made from maize meal, crushed sorghum malt, yeast, and water.