The shack with drugs worth R27 million buried under the floor

It looks like an ordinary shack from the outside. A faded hand-written sign advertising a CV drafting service hangs on the fence.

But when police lifted its floor‚ they found drugs worth enough money to purchase a luxury home on the Atlantic Seaboard in Cape Town. The bust scuppered any plans for five Khayelitsha men to cash in on their stash.

Police arrested the five for possession of mandrax worth close to R27 million in Harare‚ Khayelitsha‚ on Sunday.

The men‚ aged from 20 to 54‚ were found in possession of 529 000 mandrax tablets buried in a tunnel that had been dug underneath the shack. The drugs filled the back of a police van.

Western Cape police spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Andre Traut said officers from the Harare police station conducted‚ "an intelligence driven operation at an informal dwelling in Block 33 where they discovered an underground storage facility for the mandrax under the dwelling".

"They seized drugs with an estimated street value of R26.4 million. This is regarded a significant blow to the drug trade which will now be further investigated."

Provincial police bosses commended the officers who had conducted the raid.

"The Western Cape police management commended the members for their sterling work and encouraged them to continue to fight crime‚" said Traut.

The men are set to appear in the Khayelitsha Magistrate's Court soon.

- TMG Digital/The Times