Richards Bay postal hubs now drug dens

WHAT once was an important Post Office delivery service mini-hub for residents of Arboretum Extension is now a filthy haven for vagrants and drug sellers.

A raid on the decrepit building which borders the John Ross College boundary in Saligna road on Thursday night caught drug dealers in the act of cutting up blocks of whoonga into smaller portions, presumably for sale in the nearby Richards Bay CBD.

It also revealed the pitiful state of the abandoned government building – long since out of operation but simply left to decay and to house unwanted criminals who regularly rob passing domestic workers and pupils of cell phones and purses.

The raid was conducted by the guarding and tactical unit of private security company WLW Secure.

‘Before we even went inside we were chocking from the human excrement, broken bottles and
general waste on the outside, a major health hazard,’ said WLW’s Waldo van Jaarsveld.

‘The inside of the building was in an even worse state but despite this we found five men inside among the filthiness.

‘Blades they use to cut the drugs were lying everywhere and there were heaps of stripped copper cables among the excrement and used condoms.

‘Rain water was washing all this into the surrounding area where children play and pedestrians walk.

‘The place poses a massive health and safety issue.’

Van Jaarsveld said the men were removed from the premises and that further raids were planned until the building is properly condemned and demolished.

Meanwhile, a further visit to the Bottlebrush Bend post office box hub in Veldenvlei on Saturday night showed that post box hub to be a mirror image of the Arboretum situation.

Again, sleeping amid the filth and debris were five homeless people, surrounded by evidence of crimes including cable theft and drug usage.

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