Drugs are no longer only a huge problem in major cities. A darker side of Louis Trichardt was revealed with the arrest of five foreigners in connection with the sale of hard drugs.

According to information available, all five men are connected to a massive drug syndicate that has been distributing drugs such as cocaine and heroine from Johannesburg to local users.

The five men, Godfrey Mahero (31), Radhamani Calias Jumuwane (20), Edgard Anglus Lidanga (22), Alex Lidanga (26) and Ikechuku Olike (26), were arrested in different residential areas in Louis Trichardt last Friday evening. All of them, except for Olike, are Tanzanian citizens. Olike hails from Nigeria. The possibility that their passports and ID documents might be fake is still being investigated by police.

The alleged kingpin, however, managed to evade the police and is currently on the run. Police are, however, confident that he will be arrested soon.

The apprehension of the alleged drug mob follows an undercover police operation, code-named Project Demolition, which investigated drug syndicates in Louis Trichardt. The operation was headed by the Organised Crime Unit from Polokwane.

Two undercover police officials, pretending to be drug addicts, were deployed. They then approached the suspected kingpin to buy drugs from him, but every time when it came to delivering the drugs, he would send one of his henchmen in his place with the package. Unknown to him and his minions, however, the two undercover police officials were wearing wire taps that caught every transaction on video tape.

The five men appeared before the Louis Trichardt District Court on Monday. Mahero, Jumwane, Olike, Alex and Edgard scuffled into court, desperately trying to hide their faces. Their case was postponed until May 10 for a bail application. All five of them will remain in custody until then.