Multimillion-dollar crystal meth lab found hidden in remote South Africa farm; Mexican suspects arrested

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Three Mexican suspects were arrested with two South Africans when elite police units raided a multimillion-dollar crystal meth lab hidden in a remote farm north of Johannesburg, police said Tuesday.

The owner of the farm near Groblersdal, about 125 miles from Johannesburg, was among four men arrested on Friday, police said.

A third Mexican was picked up on Monday, the spokeswoman for the elite Hawks unit told AFP.

"The drugs were obviously intended for local and international sale," Brigadier Thandi Mbambo told AFP, adding that the manufacturing facility was operating "at a large scale."

Authorities also seized large quantities of chemicals used to manufacture illicit drugs, including crystal meth and acetone, valued at around two billion rands (more than $100 million), police said.

The Hawks and other specialized units raided the farm in the Limpopo province after a tip-off of suspicious activity there. Police photographs showed the operation was fairly sophisticated and included large machinery.

So far this year, the Hawks have uncovered ten 10 clandestine drug laboratories and made 34 arrests, police said in a statement.

South Africa is a major consumer of meth and the market is growing in neighboring countries and elsewhere in the region, according to a 2021 report by the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime.

"The consumer base for meth in South Africa appears to be significantly greater than initially imagined, marking it potentially among the largest meth consumer markets in the world," the report says.

The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime said in a 2023 report that South Africa is an appealing hub for illicit drugs destined for other countries.

"South Africa's geography, porous borders and international trade links with Asia, Latin America, Western Europe and North America have made it an attractive drug transit country," the report says

The country's ports are believed to regularly receive containers of cocaine that are in transit and do not even land ashore, the drugs agency said.

The crystal meth bust in South Africa comes about two months after police in Spain said they had seized 1.8 tons of crystal meth that Mexico's Sinaloa Cartel was trying to sell in Europe, the country's "biggest-ever seizure" of the narcotic.

In:
• Mexico
• South Africa
• Methamphetamine