Africa-Press – South-Africa. The Asset Forfeiture Unit (AFU) in Limpopo has obtained a preservation order against a Mozambican national on whose farm police discovered an illicit drug laboratory two years ago.
The bust resulted in the arrest of two people, Aldeo Mathe and Ifeanyi Obele, on Pieon Game Farm in Marble Hall.
They face charges of manufacturing illicit drugs and the possession of unlicenced firearms and ammunition.
However, the farm’s owner, Noemia De Assucao Mate, was not on the property at the time of the bust.
Later, the AFU successfully applied for a preservation order against her, pending the finalisation of the criminal case against Mathe and Obele.
On Wednesday, AFU head in the province advocate Setalana Mashalane told the media in Polokwane that Mate – a Mozambican national who entered South Africa in 1999 – bought the farm for R2.3 million in cash in 2019.
Mate then insisted on taking early occupation of the farm with an agreement she had to pay R20 000 per month in occupational rent from November 2019.
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Police raided the property in June 2020.
After purchasing the farm, Mate made improvements which, together with the original price, totalled about R4.9 million.
She also owned a house on which she still owed more than R100 000 in bond repayments.
Mate has a pending criminal case after she was arrested with more than R900 000 worth of drugs in Gauteng in 2021.
She was previously convicted of drug-related charges in Cape Town.
“We investigated her bank records but [they] didn’t have sufficient funds. She said the money was from her investments, but still, we could not find those investments.
“The AFU submitted to court that the evidence points that the Pieon Game farm and property listed are instrumentalities and/or proceeds of the crimes of manufacturing and/or dealing in drugs as well as money laundering,” Mashalane said.
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