Police Minister Nathi Mthethwa said hundreds of kilograms of confiscated drugs have been stolen from various police stations across the country over the past eight months.

He was responding to a question by an African Christian Democratic Party MP in Parliament this week.

In just eight months over 1000 kilograms of dagga were stolen from various police stations in Gauteng, the Free State, Eastern Cape, Limpopo and the North West.

Over 60 000 mandrax tablets have also found their way back on the streets, while more than 800 grams of cocaine have been stolen from under the police's noses.

Mthethwa would not reveal the exact circumstances around the thefts but he admitted that several break-ins were reported at stations in Gauteng and the Free State in which the narcotics were taken.

Twenty-one arrests have been made in this regard.