Hydroponic dagga lab worth R10m found in Vyfhoek; one man arrested
Police searching a small holding in Vyfhoek, Potchefstroom, found a hydroponic dagga laboratory with dagga and plants they valued at R10 million, plus rifles and homemade explosives, and arrested a 29-year-old man. He appeared in the Potchefstroom Magistrate's Court on 19 November 2024 on dagga and firearms charges and was remanded in custody.
🇿🇦 Vyfhoek, Potchefstroom, North West · South Africa
Arrested
1
Agencies
South African Police Service, BIU Security Company
Police and security teams searching a small holding in Vyfhoek, Potchefstroom,
found a hydroponicdagga laboratory and illegal weapons and explosives, and
arrested a 29-year-old man.[1]The search warrant was obtained and executed on
Thursday, 14 November 2024.[2]
The team was made up of the Drug Task Team, the BIU Security Company and the
Provincial Organised Crime Unit.[3]North West police spokesperson Colonel
Amanda Funani said officers found two rifles, one of them self-made, ammunition
and three self-made explosive devices: two hand grenades and a small pipe bomb.[3]Funani said police also found a hydroponic dagga laboratory with dagga and
dagga plants, which they valued at an estimated street value of R10 million.[3]Besides the laboratory, where the plants were being cultivated, police
found other dagga plants in flower pots.[1]
The suspect, Michael Cilliers, 29, appeared in the Potchefstroom Magistrate’s
Court on Tuesday, 19 November, on charges of unlawful possession of firearms and
explosives and of cultivating and dealing in dagga.[3]He was remanded in
custody, and the case was postponed to Wednesday, 4 December 2024.[2]
The operation was described by a local outlet as a sophisticated dagga
cultivation operation valued at R10 million, found during a raid at a
smallholding in Vyfhoek on 14 November 2024.[4]Lieutenant General Sello
Kwena, the North West provincial police commissioner, commended the operation
and said it showed criminal activity would not be tolerated.[3]
Photos and video
Police photos of the dagga and dagga plants found in the hydroponic laboratory at a small holding in Vyfhoek, Potchefstroom. Photo: SAPSPhoto details
No figure for the number of cannabis plants seized or destroyed, their weight, or the number of sites was published.
The R10 million is the police's estimate of the street value of the dagga and plants together, not a measured quantity.
Only the allegation is known; no plea, bail outcome or trial result was reported for the accused.
The later court date of 4 December 2024 and any steps after it were not reported in the sources opened.
Insider Chronicle says police had also found processed cannabis products but gives no quantity, and its weapon description repeats an error; the police statement quoted by IOL is used for the devices.
Crime Intelligence and Paarl police raided a house in Lemoenkloof on 27 October, finding a cannabis cultivation lab with plants, products, magic mushrooms and growing equipment. Two men and a woman were arrested for dealing and were due in court on 29 October.
Police Anti-Gang Unit officers raided a Rastafarian home in Lentegeur, Mitchells Plain, on 10 October 2026, arresting one person and seizing dagga. The family alleges warrantless entry, theft of R2,500 rent money and a forced cannabis gummy, and SAPS has opened a criminal case against its own members over the cash-theft claim.
A multidisciplinary SAPS team raided a small holding in Magaliesburg on 18 July 2024 and dismantled a fully operational hydroponic cannabis laboratory valued at about R40 million. Seven suspects of five nationalities were arrested with plants, chemicals, equipment, a signal jammer and ammunition.
The Hawks' narcotics bureau raided an alleged dagga farm at Bo-Swaarmoed outside Ceres on a crime-intelligence tip, seizing 171 plants and nearly 80 kg of dried dagga worth over R260,000. A 42-year-old man was arrested on a drug-dealing charge.