The Asset Forfeiture Unit (AFU) in KwaZulu-Natal has obtained a forfeiture order for Tigerkloof Farm, a farm in the Ingogo area near Newcastle, from the Pietermaritzburg High Court.

The farm, worth about R1.2m and covering 132 hectares, was allegedly used as a drug laboratory. This order follows a preservation order issued earlier this year, in May.

The ‘suspicious activity on the farm’ was discovered after the Directory of Priority Crime Investigation followed up on information from an informant, according to Natasha Kara-Ramkisson, spokesperson for the National Prosecution Authority.

“Members of the South African Police Service Forensic Science Laboratory who were present during a search operation in August 2019, confirmed that the types of exhibits found on the farm are similar to those found at a clandestine drug lab,” she says.

Among the alleged evidence was 25kg of methamphetamine.