Mpumalanga police have arrested a 30-year-old man and recovered a massive dagga haul following a bust on the N12 in Delmas.
The success was thanks to a clever four-legged member of the South African Police Service (SAPS) who managed to sniff out the dagga, concealed in a compartment of the truck.
“Through information received from intelligence and the Trilateral Planning Cell, police pounced a truck, travelling from Eswatini towards Gauteng, carrying the consignment of dagga,” explained police spokesperson, Colonel Donald Mdhluli.
He said joint efforts by Delmas SAPS, Middelburg K9, Middelburg Flying Squad Unit, as well as Mpumalanga Covert Intelligence intercepted the truck on the N12 freeway just before the Dryden off-ramp.
Police said when they searched the truck, despite a strong dagga odour, they could not locate the drugs.
The truck was escorted to Delmas SAPS where a K9 narcotic dog was used to conduct another search.
“It was during this time when a hidden compartment at the back was discovered, and upon removal, 63 bales of dagga were found wrapped in brown sellotape. The bales were marked and it is suspected that the parcels were possibly packaged for distribution,” Mdhluli said.
He said the dagga weighed 1,180kg with a street value of at least R4.7 million.
Mpumalanga police management have hailed the arrest.
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