POLICE in Cape Town have bust nine men for selling booze.
The confiscated booze had an estimated street value of R640 000.
Captain Frederick Van Wyk said the incident took place on Tuesday, 19 January after police received a tip-off.
“After monitoring vital information for some time about illegal liquor trading from a farm in Paarl and at premises in Airport Industria, Crime Intelligence operatives assisted by Anti-Gang Unit members bust a truckload of liquor on Tuesday afternoon.
“Nine suspects, aged between 26 and 55, were arrested and members seized wine, a substantial amount of cash and a delivery truck,” said Van Wyk.
When the cops entered the premises in the Airport Industria, they discovered a storage facility equipped with security uniforms, safes, forklifts and more boxes of alcohol.
“The suspects have been charged for contravening the Disaster Management Act regulations in relation to the selling, dispensing and distributing of alcohol,” he said.
The incident happened amid calls from the liquor traders for alcohol sales to reopen for off-site consumption.
- Meanwhile Derrick America, the DA’s Western Cape spokesman for Local Government, is calling for the government to allow off-site alcohol sales from Monday to Thursday and on-site consumption seven days a week.
He also called for wine sales on weekends to be permitted and for the curfew to be until 11pm.
“Using the hotspot model and following a data-led, evidence-based approach, it is increasingly clear that the province has passed its peak of infections in the second wave. Our municipalities now desperately need the easing of certain restrictions,” said America.