A complaint about a man threatening staff at a motor dealership quickly spiralled into an incident involving illegal guns, stacks of money and an ocean of booze.

Three members of Cape Town's "ghost squad" of undercover traffic officers were alerted to the man’s behaviour at a Table View garage, mayoral committee member JP Smith said on Friday.

"They were told that he appeared heavily inebriated and had left the dealership, driving in a reckless and negligent manner," he said, adding that it later emerged the man had filled a can with fuel at a petrol station in Milnerton and left without paying.

The officers stopped the man's vehicle and discovered he was five times over the legal breath-alcohol limit. They found an unlicensed .22 pistol in his vehicle.

"After questioning the suspect, the ghost squad officers accompanied Milnerton SAPS to his residence in Pinelands," said Smith.

"There they found two more firearms hidden among plants in the shower – a .44 Magnum revolver and a .38 special revolver, more than 100 rounds of ammunition for various calibre firearms and several money bags, containing hundreds of thousands of rands.

"The suspect could not account for the firearms but indicated that the money was from his business."

Smith said the incident, on Thursday, was "an example of what can be achieved when agencies work together with the single objective of ensuring public safety".