From Mall Parking to Metal Crunch: A Festive Drug Bust Goes Sideways

A routine festive season police operation at Polokwane’s busy Savanna Mall took a dramatic turn on Tuesday when an alleged drug dealer’s escape plan ended with a crumpled bumper and a swift arrest. A 35-year-old foreign national is in custody after crashing his white Ford Fiesta in a desperate, failed attempt to evade members of the Limpopo Public Order Policing Unit.

The police were acting on a tip-off about individuals selling drugs at the mall. Officers identified a suspect matching the description and, upon searching him, found a plastic bag containing drugs. Spooked, the man bolted toward his parked Ford Fiesta with Gauteng plates, only to crash into a store’s delivery bakkie in the parking lot.

A Short-Lived Sprint on Foot

The collision didn’t end the chase. The suspect abandoned his damaged vehicle and fled on foot, but police were faster. They quickly apprehended him. The operation didn’t stop there. A subsequent search of his Sterpark home yielded a more significant haul, with police confiscating additional drugs including nyaope, crystal meth, and heroin.

Police Vow to Continue “Concerted Efforts”

The suspect is set to appear in the Polokwane Magistrate’s Court on Thursday facing charges of possession and dealing. Provincial Police Commissioner Lieutenant General Thembi Hadebe praised the officers, reaffirming the SAPS’s commitment to “rid drugs in our communities” and ensure dealers are behind bars.

The incidenta crashed hatchback, a sprinting suspect, and a home raidserves as a stark snapshot of the ongoing battle against drug trafficking in public spaces. For Savanna Mall shoppers, it was an unexpected spectacle; for police, it was a successful, if chaotic, score in their festive season crackdown.

{Source: IOL}

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