Bust blows party drug ring

High-end party drugs worth more than R1-million, some concealed in a Veuve Clicquot Champagne bottle, have been confiscated by Cape Town authorities.

The bust has allegedly exposed a sophisticated European syndicate supplying party-goers with cocaine, hashish and liquid MDMA during the summer rave season.

Cape Town metro police's Gang and Drug Task Team arrested three German men aged 26, 31 and 51, and an Italian woman, 31, at a petrol station on the N2 near Somerset West on Wednesday. They were travelling to Knysna.

Narcotics worth an estimated R500000 were found in their camper van. According to a statement by the city council, officers received a tip-off that the vehicle was being used to transport drugs. It added that one of the suspects led them to a house in Muizenberg where more drugs - valued at about R750 000 - were found.

Mayoral committee member for safety and security JP Smith said: "During the summer season, there are loads of raves all over the place. The syndicates are going to these and distributing the drugs. They are the more higher-end drugs like LSD, MDMA and hashish."

Smith said they were surprised by the ingenuity of the drug dealers, who had manufactured fake bottles to conceal the drugs.

"I could never dream that people would go to those lengths to hide drugs. The Coca-Cola bottles had a central compartment for the drugs."

David Collins, founder of Sharp Recover Centre, said: "People go to raves to take these drugs.

"Hashish and MDMA are softer drugs than cocaine. You cannot take MDMA every day. It's not sustainable. But if you take cocaine every day you can develop a drug problem."

He said cocaine was the most expensive drug on the street, costing between R300 and R800 a gram.

Embassies for the foreign nationals were unable to provide further details.

Western Cape MEC for Community Safety Dan Plato welcomed the bust, because "the drug problem in the Western Cape is huge. I'm just glad it didn't reach the market."