WATCH: KZN police nab over 130 illegal foreign nationals in massive Durban CBD raid

DURBAN - KwaZulu-Natal police have arrested over 130 illegal foreign nationals during a police raid in the Durban CBD.

Officers on Tuesday morning raided hijacked buildings, searching for illegal firearms.

KwaZulu-Natal police also discovered over R4 million in fake money during the raid.

Officers conducted the operation in the city centre, led by provincial Police Commissioner Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi and Premier Thami Ntuli.

It comes a day after the eThekwini Metro identified over 50 hijacked buildings in the CBD.

Part of the busy Durban city came to a standstill as the men and women in blue arrived for the operation.

Police found drugs and a bag of money worth over US$100,000, which was thrown out of a window from one of the buildings.

Mkhwanazi said police arrested illegal foreigners and drug dealers in the buildings.

"We’ve got over 120 people that we found in different buildings, not one building, different buildings where we are operating today, and amongst them, you have people that have been arrested for drugs."

Mkhwanazi said the money was fake and amounted to millions of rands.

"Other people were arrested for counterfeiting. We’ve got a lot of US dollar fake notes that we found, over R4 million worth of those notes."

City officials have welcomed the police operations, saying this is one way to reclaim government-owned assets.