Three people, including an alleged drug dealer, have been arrested with rock cocaine in a sting operation in KZN.
|||Durban - Three people, including a man police say is a notorious drug dealer, have been arrested with rock cocaine in a sting operation in Bellair, Durban.
The sting netted the alleged Bellair dealer and two women who worked closely with him, according to police.
The operation unfolded when undercover policemen posed as drug users.
Police had made several buys from the alleged dealer over a month.
On Thursday police bought six pieces - or “half moons” in drug terminology - of cocaine in Church Avenue, Bellair.
Once the deal was done, two police vehicles blocked the alleged dealer’s Nissan Almera from driving off.
A middle-aged woman driving the car, a young woman and the alleged drug kingpin, a man, were taken out of the car by police and handcuffed.
Police detectives and the SAPS forensics unit inspected the exterior and interior of the car carefully in the hope of finding more drugs.
The women were led to a police vehicle in handcuffs and taken to the Bellair police station.
The alleged drug kingpin was taken to two of his houses where police conducted a search of the premises, using narcotics and currency detection police dogs.
The man rents two houses, one in Huntley Road, Hillary, and one in Elgin Road in Sarnia.
Residents peered over their fences during the raid in Hillary.
The middle-aged woman was also brought to the house to unlock her bedroom door for a police inspection.
She said she felt embarrassed and tried to hide behind a police car so neighbours could not see her while she was led into the house.
The three have been renting the house for almost a month.
In Sarnia the house was a known drug den, according to residents.
Shops near the house were also searched by forensics and police dogs.
No drugs were found in either house.
Queensburgh Crime Watch team leader, Raymond Moore, heaped praise on efforts by the police to rid the area of drug dealers.
He said community members had come forward with information to clean up their neighbourhood.
Police spokesman, Captain Thulani Zwane, said the suspects had been charged with dealing in drugs.
Daily News