GLOBAL DRUG TRAFFICKING: Mexican cartel concerns around SA ‘tik farms’ may connect to Ecuador’s cocaine gangs

{JSON.stringify(article.attachments[0], null, 2)} --> Police recently cracked down on another suspected crystal methamphetamine factory on a Limpopo farm and arrested individuals from countries including Mexico, adding to concerns about Mexican cartel activity in South Africa. The US, meanwhile, says those cartels have converged with counterparts in Ecuador.

A crackdown on a suspected R600-million illicit drug facility in South Africa, along with sanctions that the United States (US) has imposed against an Ecuador-based cocaine trafficking network, emphasises the tight grip of Mexican cartels.

In South Africa, five suspects were detained after an alleged crystal methamphetamine (tik) manufacturing facility, worth around R600-million, was uncovered at a Limpopo farm on Thursday, 20 August 2026.

The bust is one of several involving illicit drug-making operations and the arrests of suspects from Mexico.

This adds to concerns about increasing Mexican cartel activity in South Africa.

On the same day as the Limpopo crackdown, the US Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control announced sanctions against an Ecuador-based cocaine trafficking network that was working with Mexican cartels – Sinaloa and Cartel de Jalisco Nueva Generación (CJNG).

Organised crime links between South Africa and Ecuador have emerged before, and with the Mexican cartel suspicions now circling in this country, highlight a convergence of international criminality.

Daily Maverick has reported extensively on evidence suggesting that Mexican cartels are active in South Africa.

A few months ago, US Africa Command General Dagvin Anderson warned about this and broader cartel activity in Africa.

He said: “This convergence turns a fragile security landscape into a pressure cooker, demanding interagency focus and coordination to prevent a rupture.”

It now appears that the US is working with local authorities to tackle this.

A South African Police Service (SAPS) statement said that in the Limpopo facility crackdown last Thursday, the Hawks worked with officers from units including the narcotics bureau, Crime Intelligence and Special Task Force.

It also said the US’s Drug Enforcement Administration and Homeland Security were involved.

The SAPS statement added: “The breakthrough follows a two-month intensive investigation into suspected drug manufacturing activities at the farm.