Millions worth of dagga go up in cloud of smoke

Date: 17 December 2014 By: Isabel Venter

The owner of a small dagga farm is still at large after the Makhado police cracked down on his enterprise.

The police in Louis Trichardt came across the smallholding along the Madombidzha road during a routine foot patrol last Friday. According to provincial police spokesperson Brig Hangwani Mulaudzi, the property belongs to the Makhado Municipality.

On the property, the police found 840 dagga trees, each about 1.5m tall. Following the dagga find, all the trees were cut down and burnt. The street value of the dagga is estimated at about R5 million.

The owner of the dagga plantation lived next to his plantation in a shack with some dogs, but was nowhere to be found. "We did not find him, but we managed to discover different suspected stolen goods and [these] were taken to the local police station,” said Mulaudzi. The dogs were also rescued from the farm.

Mulaudzi said the destruction of the plantation would be a major blow to a marijuana ring suspected to be one of the main dealers in the province.

At the time of our going to press, local police spokesperson Const Irene Radzilane had confirmed that the police were still on the lookout for the owner and searching the area for other dagga plantations. 

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Isabel Venter

Isabel joined the Zoutpansberger and Limpopo Mirror in 2009 as a reporter. She holds a BA Degree in Communication Sciences from the University of South Africa. Her beat is mainly crime and court reporting.

More photos... 

A police officer of the Makhado Police station, busy cutting down one of the 1.5-meter-long dagga trees. Photo: SAPS, Limpopo.