Mandrax may flood market after R3bn theft

The street price of Mandrax is set to go down after the theft of tablets worth three billion rand which police seized in a world-record raid in 2002. On Tuesday it was reported that chemicals used to manufacture Mandrax, and confiscated during the biggest drug bust in the world, had been stolen.

However, it was three billion rand's worth of actual Mandrax - ready for street sale - that was taken and not the chemicals used in the manufacture process, as was reported. Two weeks ago a group of armed robbers made off with the drugs confiscated by detectives in a raid on a Douglasdale property linked to the Mothiba brothers, who are both in custody and awaiting trial. Superintendent Lungelo Dlamini said a gang of men broke into the police vehicle storage facility in Alrode on the East Rand on January 8. "They held up two guards and broke through a wall, which gave them access to a safe where the drugs were being kept," he said.

Bobby Hamman, director of Drug Wise, said the theft probably meant that the stolen Mandrax would go back on to the streets and "back into exactly the same hands". "It came out of a police storage facility, so one would be inclined to believe that some kind of collusion was involved. "But at the end of the day it is likely to cause a decrease in the price, and there will just be a whole lot more available," Hamman said. According to research published by the Medical Research Council regarding drug usage and the costs surrounding substance abuse, the street cost of Mandrax in Cape Town - where it is most commonly used - is currently between R20 and R45 per tablet.

Hamman said, however, that he felt the new flood of Mandrax on the street market was unlikely to have a huge impact on the present trade.

Source: IoL

ICD to probe Selebi swearing claim

Charges of crimen injuria against National Police Commissioner Jackie Selebi would be probed by the Independent Complaints Directorate, Selebi's office said on Tuesday. Spokeswoman Director Sally de Beer said the ICD was perfectly placed to handle the investigation as it was independent from the SA Police Service. "This will help ensure a credible and objective finding," she said in Pretoria.

The Democratic Party earlier called on Selebi to go on leave pending the outcome of the probe into charges that he swore at a Pretoria policewoman on New Year's eve. "It is too much to expect that the inquiry can be concluded impartially with the new commissioner on duty," the party's safety and security spokesman Graham McIntosh said in a statement.He questioned Selebi's motives for declining to elaborate on the incident by "hiding behind" the sub judice rule. "If he really called the policewoman a 'f... gorilla' he should be man enough to admit it and apologise," McIntosh said. "Instead he is subjecting himself and the SAPS to a long process which is not in the interest of South Africa."

Selebi allegedly swore at a female sergeant on duty at Pretoria's Brooklyn police station after he demanded a driver but was not recognised. The woman, identified as Sergeant Jeanette Mothiba, has laid a charge of crimen injuria against her new boss.

On Sunday Selebi said the charge resulted from "an unfortunate incident of mistaken identity". He said it would be improper for him to elaborate as the case was sub judice. The DP's Gauteng branch said in a separate statement it was understandable that Selebi was not as "recognisable" as he would have liked. "I have sympathy with the sergeant who apparently failed to snap to attention upon his entrance. I for one would not know the face of Mr Selebi, who has now been in office for a mere four days," according to public safety spokeswoman Shelley Loe.

"If Mr Selebi felt that it was so important to be instantly recognised by police throughout the country, I suggest that he issue a clear head and shoulder photograph of himself to be displayed in all police stations."

Source: Mail & Guardian