I was told to identify a house, to serve as a covert office, where we (the guys I indicated that I had identified in Chapter 22) could work from. After I found the right house, the four of us moved there. We started working on our strategies for various operations from the house. I was still an Inspector (warrant officer) in rank and busy with my final year’s studies to qualify as an officer. We were given an officer to work with us. As much of the administration work had to be signed off by an officer, his role was for administration purposes only.

Each one of us had a specific syndicate we worked on. We did all the intelligence work and the handling of Agents and informers in respect of the syndicate we were working on.

I had a drug operation going on in the former Transkei, in a well-known coastal town. The suspects were involved in the pressing of dagga blocks. They also manufactured dagga oil. These items they then smuggled to places like Australia and the United Kingdom. My agent, whom I had infiltrating the syndicate, was a former gold and diamond detective. He had the right looks and the knowledge to fit in with the suspects.

He started living amongst them, but was not accepted. His legend (meaning the claimed background should he be investigated), was that he was a diamond diver on the West Coast that smuggled with diamonds. But, in the months that he could not dive on the West Coast, he wanted to get involved with the buying and selling of compressed dagga bricks. The locals did not trust him and he was seen as a stranger in their midst.

I had to think of a plan that would make the locals accept him. I came up with the following. With the help of my Pretoria office, I applied for a few thousand mandrax tablets from the South African Police Forensic Bureau. These were delivered to me. I arranged a meeting with my agent and handed the tablets to him with the following instructions. He had to hide the drugs in his inflatable boat we bought for him with the operational funds that was allocated for this specific drug operation. The boat would help to fit in with his legend as a diamond diver.

He was told that he could expect a visit from the East London narcotics branch as part of the plan. They were going to arrest him once they found the drugs. He would then be charged and detained at the local police cells. From there, he would be taken to court. The case would be remanded, and he would then be released on bail, which I would pay.

The plan worked like a charm. He was arrested in front of the locals, and there was even a newspaper article about the vast mandrax bust. After the fake arrest and being let out on bail, he was accepted by the locals with open arms. He was treated like a hero, and they let him into their inner circle.

He quickly established who the key people were behind the compressed bricks and manufacturing of the cannabis oil in the area. As a result, we came to know who the people in the United Kingdom and Australia were who ordered the drugs. That information was passed on to the police in those countries.

The agent was taken out of the field when we started making arrests over the next few months as a result of all the information that was gathered by him. My objectives were achieved, and the operation was a success. It proved to the old school detectives at the SANAB Branch in East London I spoke about earlier, that new methods do work. It was just a matter of adapt or retire.