Durban North dagga bust

October 22, 2010: Who would have thought that Durban North would be the high tech dagga capital of South Africa? Police Col Jay Naicker said members of the Hawks had yesterday raided the most sophisticated dagga lab ever seen in South Africa in Briar Lane, Durban North.

The three storey luxury property where large amounts of super concentrated dagga was found included an extensive basement laboratory where dagga with a street value estimated at about R200 000 was seized.

Booze, caffeine a bad mix!

The dagga that was cultivated is off a different strain from the local variety and is cultivated under controlled conditions to yield a higher THC content.

The suspects, all South Africans, had a secure basement, which was not included on the property’s plans, with a little hole you have to crawl through to gain access to the laboratory.

Included in the hydroponic lab were sprinkler systems, floodlights and special fans and ducting systems.

The head of the Hawks Brigadier Simon Madonsela has vowed to crack down on drug dealing in the province by targeting the “big fish.” “We can expect similar busts in the near future,” he said.

Five suspects were taken in for questioning and will appear in the Durban Magistrate’s Court (special drug court) today.