Tshwane Metro Police's drug unit on Tuesday arrested one suspected pimp, three prostitutes and two of their clients in a raid on what they believe to be a brothel in the leafy suburb of Monument Park.
The unit swooped after receiving information from a prostitute who had worked from a house in Bossperwer Street and who they arrested in an operation at the same address two weeks ago.
Parked in the driveway were a Mercedes Benz C240 and a bakkie belonging to the men suspected of being clients. Both protested, saying they were "just visiting".
Metro police drug unit head Superintendent Mark Newham said one of their officers had posed as a potential client and entered the home.
There he waited with the informant until the pimp, a Nigerian, arrived. The policeman then alerted the other officers who had been waiting nearby.
Newham said that part of the agreement with the informant was that she would be admitted to a rehabilitation clinic to seek help for a drug problem.
Newham said that everyone arrested had tested positive for drugs, and that the "clients" would be taken for blood tests.
"We found heroin, crack cocaine and drug paraphernalia like rock pipes, teaspoons used to melt the heroin and syringes," he said.
Newham said the raid and arrests had been part of a month-long drive dubbed Operation New Year in which they had already arrested 33 people on drug-related charges and secondary charges of prostitution.
He said it was becoming increasingly common for pimps to operate brothels in the suburbs.
"Many of the adverts in the classifieds pages advertise an individual girl running her own thing, but more often she is part of a bigger operation," he said.
Newham said the prostitutes arrested were almost all linked to drugs and foreign pimps.
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