A Manenberg mother was arrested after she was found with drugs under her breast as she was breastfeeding.
Manenberg Police Station commander, Brigadier Enolium Joseph, says his team made 14 arrests last week on charges ranging from murder and attempted murder to assault, the illegal possession of firearms and ammunition and housebreaking.
On Friday, police received information about a woman selling drugs in Gamka Road and officers were told she was using her baby as her cover to sell the drugs.
“SAPS members confronted her and found her with a one-year-old girl on the arm and upon searching her, they found 10 mandrax tablets, three halves of mandrax tablets, three packets of tik and 28 units of heroin hidden under her breast as she breastfed her baby,” Joseph says.
“The child was handed over to relatives as she was arrested.”
However, officers were attacked by residents as they were loading the “mert mom” into the back of a police van.
“As they tried putting her in the van, members came under attack from the community. The community did not want her to be arrested,” Joseph says.
“Community members should not allow mothers or anyone for that matter to sell drugs to other mothers’ children.”
“If we are serious about stopping crime and eradicating criminal behaviour from areas like Manenberg then the communities must allow SAPS to do their work in executing their duties as law enforcement officers,” Joseph says.