STATE SEIZES GRASSY PARK DRUG HOUSE

IN a first for the Grassy Park area, the Asset Forfeiture Unit (AFU)
has seized a house which has been operating as a drug and alcohol
outlet for more than 10 years.

After years of drug and liquor confiscations, the Grassy Park Police
brought an application for forfeiture of the property to the AFU on
the basis of criminal activity taking place on the property.

The property, at 236 Seventh Avenue in Grassy Park, is owned and let
out by Hendrick April, and has been raided 87 times in the past five
years.

Advocate Hermione Cronje, regional head of the AFU, says that the
police seized illegal liquor and drugs on the property in Seventh
Avenue on numerous occasions.

"The property was used for repeated criminal activity. "There has
even been an attempted murder there," she says.

She explains that the AFU gave the court a history of all the crimes
that took place on the property, a list of illegal liquor and drug
dealings going back as far as 1992.

"We looked at the case in two phases because the owner of the
property (April) moved out of the house in 1998 and his tenants moved
in afterwards."

She adds that April said that he was unaware of the criminal
activity, drugs and illegal alcohol sales taking place on his
property after he moved out.

"We had to prove in court that these things were going on and that he
was aware of it," she explains.

However, it was not difficult to prove this, Cronje
says.

"He was on the property on at least three occasions when the police
raided the premises and found illegal substances," she points out,
adding that April claimed that he thought dealing in liquor was not a
serious offence.

"We presented affidavits that showed that these people made no effort
to obtain a licence to sell liquor."

April denied that there was ever any drug dealing taking place on the
premises, Cronje says.

"It was claimed in court that the police planted the drugs on the
premises, but over the years April has had many charges of drug
dealing against him which were withdrawn for various reasons," she
says.

Cronje says that it is for this reason that police brought the matter
to AFU.

"The police have tried conventional methods to eradicate the criminal
activity taking place on this property, but it didn't work.

"The unlawful activities always continued."

She adds that, now that the house has been officially forfeited, it
will either be sold at auction and the money used to fund law
enforcement, or it will be used for community upliftment projects
such as a drug rehabilitation centre.

Senior Superintendent Christopher Jones, station commissioner of the
Grassy Park Police Station, says that because this is the first time
this has happened within the Grassy Park area, "it shows that what we
are doing is paying off".

"We are hoping to do this with more drug outlets in the area, but we
need the community to come on board to testify in court."

Cronje says that if there are other properties in the community from
which unlawful activities are being conducted, "the community must
come forward and contact us or the police".

Basil Lee, chairperson of the Rondevlei Subcouncil, says that he is
very happy that the house has been confiscated.

"It is fantastic for the area. If we can get more convictions it
might help to decrease the sale and use of drugs.

"I want to congratulate the police on their hard work. And to the
drug dealers ? watch out."