Police bust mandrax lab worth millions of rand in Erasmia
Police arrested two foreign nationals after discovering a clandestine mandrax laboratory estimated to be worth millions of rand in Erasmia, west of Pretoria, on Wednesday.
Police seized a large quantity of drugs during a joint operation between the police crime intelligence and the Hawks’ South African Narcotics Bureau.
Deputy national commissioner for policing Lt-Gen Tebello Mosikili, who was at the scene on Wednesday evening, said this was not a small operation.
“We are talking about a sophisticated manufacturing operation that was allegedly producing approximately 800,000 mandrax tablets a day,” Mosikili said.
She said this was a major blow to a large-scale criminal syndicate and to the illicit drug supply chain in South Africa.
“By dismantling this facility, we are disrupting the production capacity of a network capable of flooding our communities with hundreds of thousands of mandrax tablets every single day.”
#sapsHQ [UPDATE ON ACTIVE CRIME SCENE: MULTIMILLION RAND MANDRAX DRUG LAB BUST IN ERASMIA]The Deputy National Commissioner for Policing, Lieutenant General Tebello Mosikili, is currently on the scene and being taken through the drug laboratory. Lt General Mosikili is being… pic.twitter.com/QqkXOVIsHA— SA Police Service 🇿🇦 (@SAPoliceService) September 9, 2026
She said through intelligence-led policing, Crime Intelligence has been monitoring activities and movements at this smallholding for some time.
“The information gathered pointed us to this property, and today, working together with the Hawks, we decided to act.”
Mosikili said the police service has noted with concern that some smallholdings and farms were being used as hideouts for illicit activities, including the manufacturing of drugs.
“But let me be very clear today: these properties are not beyond the reach of the law. One by one, we are identifying them, raiding them, dismantling their operations and disrupting the criminal networks behind them.”
She said the police service was not simply waiting for drugs to reach the streets before acting.
“We are going to the source. We are dismantling the infrastructure. And we are disrupting the networks that manufacture, transport and distribute these drugs.”
Mosikili said in recent weeks, there had been significant drug-related successes across the country.
“Just this past week, the SAPS arrested 3,203 suspects for possession of drugs and a further 273 suspects for dealing in drugs.”
She said the police approach was going beyond street-level dealing.
“We are going after the source. We are going after the manufacturing facilities. We are going after the transportation routes. We are going after the distribution networks. And we are going after those who finance and profit from this illegal trade.”