Pubdate: Fri, 03 Aug 2012 Source: New Age, The (South Africa) Copyright: 2012 TNA Media (Pty.) Contact: http://www.mapinc.org/media/5339 Note: http://www.thenewage.co.za/ Author: De Wet Potgieter CHINESE TRIAD LINK TO TIK TRADE With an estimated 300 000 people using more than half a gram of tik a day, more than 150kg of this designer drug is needed to supply the demand for it in the greater Cape Town area per day. Selling at street level for more than R30 a "straw" (less than half a gram) explains the cut throat gang wars being fought for this very lucrative drug market. Crystal Methamphetamine-popularly known as "tik" is chemically related to amphetamine and is known for the violence it triggers among its users. When tik hit the streets in late 2003 very little was known about this dangerous drug. Until then mandrax was the main drug peddled to drug abusers on the Cape Flats, but tik quickly took over as the drug of choice for junkies on the streets. In the latest development the illegal drug trade has taken a new turn for the worse in the Western Cape with the main production of tik for the local market starting to move from the north of South Africa to the southern coastal region. Until six months ago the Western Cape's climate was regarded as too damp for "cooking houses" to produce tik locally, but it was then discovered that the ovens used for the illegal drying of abalone for the Chinese contraband market worked perfectly for the production of tik. While the main basis for the production of tik, CAT and ephedrine, is smuggled in from Asian countries like China, Pakistan and India, most of it comes from the Chinese Triads who barter it from the South African syndicates stripping the country's marine resources of its abalone, commonly known as perlemoen, to pay for this much sought after resource. A source close to the syndicates said the police have made fewer major breakthroughs in their efforts to clamp down on abalone smugglers because divers stripping the Cape shoreline at night now swim out to sea where their loot is loaded onto high speed inflatable craft and ferried into international waters where awaiting Chinese trawlers swop it for ephedrine. For the smugglers the exchange of abalone for at least 100kg of ephedrine at a time means it can be sold to the South African drug manufacturers for about R30 000/ kg, pocketing a whopping R3m for one night's work at sea. - --- MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom