Drug bust in Pineslopes uncovers syndicate
PINESLOPES - More details have emerged about a drug bust that took place in the Fourways area on 22 June ('Heroin worth R1.2M seized in Pineslopes', Fourways Review, week ending 4 July).
Inspector Paul Ramaloko, spokesperson of the Hawks, has confirmed that the drug bust was a joint operation between the Hawks, the Douglasdale police and the Canadian National Police.
Ramaloko explained that the Hawks had been gathering intelligence about a suspected drug syndicate operating out of Fourways for a number of months.
He added that the Hawks were working with the Canadian police to intercept communication between the syndicate and buyers in Canada, and also to bring the suspects operating in the syndicate to book for a crime they had committed in Canada.
Ramaloko said that the Hawks drew the suspects out into the open by posing as buyers who wanted to purchase 100kg of heroin. The meeting point for the exchange was a shopping centre in Pineslopes.
When the suspects came to make the exchange they were seized by police, however they were only carrying 11kg of heroin at the time, not 19kg as was originally reported.
Ramaloko has confirmed that the six suspects who were arrested were Tanzanian nationals.
