Monday, October 02, 2006

State steps up fight against drugs

By Nadia Samie
1 October 2006


In a landmark Constitutional Court ruling the state has been given the green light to confiscate the homes of people who have been found to manufacture or sell drugs on the premises — whether or not they are convicted of a drug-related crime.

This comes after the Constitutional Court ruled that a Cape Town house used for the manufacture of drugs was forfeit to the State even though its owner was acquitted on drugs charges.

According to iafrica.com, in December 2000, police traced illegally imported drugs used to manufacture methamphetamine or "tik" to a house in Woodstock, owned by Simon Prophet.

Traces of the drugs and indications that tik was being manufactured on the premises were found in the house. Prophet was subsequently acquitted on drugs charges when it was found that the warrants used to search his home were invalid. Before his acquittal, the State had seized the house under the Prevention of Organised Crime Act.

It is thought that the ruling will assist the states efforts to tackle drug-related crime. According the state, the number of tik cases handled state laboratories had multiplied 75 times since 2001.

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