Police Dismantles Illegal Alcohol Manufacturing Facility In Faure, Six Suspects Arrested

The South African Police Service (SAPS) has dismantled a large-scale illicit alcohol manufacturing facility in Faure, Stellenbosch, leading to the arrest of six suspects and the seizure of counterfeit liquor and equipment.

Police Uncovers Farm-Based Facility

On Thursday, 02 October 2025, SAPS members attached to Operation Shanela II acted on intelligence about an illegal alcohol plant. Officers raided a farm in Faure, where they discovered a fully operational facility hidden inside a building on the property.

Authorities seized industrial bottling machinery, capping equipment, chemicals, plastic containers, and hundreds of empty and pre-filled liquor bottles. Five Malawian nationals, aged between 26 and 45, were arrested at the scene.

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Storage Facility Bust in Woodstock

The investigation led officers to a storage facility in Woodstock, Cape Town, where a 53-year-old Chinese national was arrested. Police confiscated a large consignment of pre-packaged illicit alcohol, believed to be ready for distribution across the Western Cape.

The five Malawian suspects are expected to appear in the Stellenbosch Magistrate’s Court, while the Chinese suspect will appear in the Cape Town Magistrate’s Court on charges linked to contraventions of the Liquor Act.

Western Cape Provincial Commissioner, Lieutenant General Thembisile Patekile, praised the officers involved, highlighting the link between alcohol abuse and violent crime.

“These operations will be sustained to clamp down on the illegal manufacturing and distribution of alcohol, which fuels serious crimes, particularly over weekends,” he said.

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