Is that mandrax in your vegetables?

Vegetables are supposed to pack a nutritional punch – not illegal synthetic drugs.

But these are exactly the variety of vegetables police discovered in a bag carried by a fidgety man on the N14 road near Upington in the Northern Cape.

While conducting a stop and search operation on the road at the weekend‚ police noticed two men at a hiking spot who appeared to be restless.

“One of them threw a bag he was carrying on the ground and started running away. Some of the members chased him while the others remained to search the rest of the people who were at the hiking spot. The suspect who ran away was caught and his bag was searched‚” said police spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Dimakatso Mooi.

“Vegetables were found inside the bag and upon close inspection the members discovered that there were mandrax tablets concealed inside those vegetables. The 248 tablets estimated to the street value of R25‚000 and a cellphone suspected to have been stolen during a house-breaking were confiscated.”

Two foreign nationals were arrested in connection with the stash of “vegetables”. They will appear in the Upington Magistrate’s Court on Tuesday to face charges of dealing in drugs and possession of suspected stolen property.