KwaZulu Natal police have arrested 14 people after raiding a large scale, five hectare outdoor illicit grow operation near Babanango on Wednesday 16 July 2025. Ten of those arrested were foreign nationals.
The suspects, aged between 19 and 40 years old are due to appear in the Babanango Magistrates Court soon.
According to police spokesperson Captain Ntathu Ndlovu, cannabis worth hundreds of thousands of rands was seized during the raid on the plantation that was fronting as a vegetable farm.
“Pieces of South African National Defence Force uniform, machetes and processed cannabis were also found in the possession of the suspects,” said Ndlovu.
The operation consisted of a multidisciplinary team, comprising officers from the SAPS Zululand District, Vryheid and Ulundi K9 units, Vryheid Search and Rescue, Home Affairs Immigration Officers, Zone 3 Task Team members and officers from the Ulundi Local Municipality Crime Prevention Unit.
Meanwhile in Mpumulanga, SAPS arrested three men in a bakkie loaded with six bags of cannabis weighing over 117 kg, and a SAPS-estimated street value of R700 000. The suspects, Nowa Mkhonto (39), Phinda Mnisi (30) who are from the Kingdom of Eswatini and Mxolisi Mavimbela (36), a South African, were arrested in the early hours of 14 June 2025 at Ekulindeni.
SAPS says the men will be “charged for dealing in dagga” and an that additional charge of contravention of Immigration Act was added to the two suspects who did not have legal documentation to be in the country.
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