South Africa is a key drug transit hub, driven by its geography and global trade links, and an expanding market for synthetic drugs, according to the UN Office on Drugs and Crime.
The raid on a remote farm in Swartruggens, 170 kilometres (105 miles) northwest of Johannesburg, is one of the country’s largest drug busts.
Footage and images released by the police showed chemical vats, pools of waste and drums strewn across a forested yard shaded by tarpaulin sheets.
“When they took down this place, they discovered a crystal meth laboratory, huge quantity of chemical,” the acting provincial police chief Ryno Naidoo said.
“They also found a gold processing plant with a lot of gold-bearing materials,” he said.
Authorities estimated the value of the drugs produced at around 250 million rand ($15 million).
The operation came to light after residents reported strong chemical odours from the isolated farm, which was posing as a game lodge.
Raids targeting suspects believed to be linked to cartels have become increasingly frequent in recent years.
In September, police raided another clandestine lab in a rural area about 250 kilometres southeast of Johannesburg, seizing methamphetamine worth 350 million rand and arresting five Mexican nationals.
In July 2024, authorities confiscated drugs worth about two billion rand and arrested three Mexicans, while in November that year, a further bust yielded meth worth 100 million rand and led to the arrest of another Mexican national.
The Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime said in a July report that such laboratories supply international markets at a time of rising demand for cocaine and methamphetamine in Australia and New Zealand, where retail prices for both drugs are among the highest in the world.
The Swiss-based NGO added that strong legitimate trade flows between South Africa and Australia “may also contribute to the growth of this route” for methamphetamine trafficking.
