The outcome of the ANCs long-awaited KwaZulu-Natal conference was a win for the Thuma Mina crowd. (Delwyn Verasamy/M&G)
CAPE TOWN, June 6 (ANA) – Some R9 million worth of drugs were confiscated and a suspect arrested over the weekend, the South African Revenue Services (SARS) said on Monday.
In the first incident, SARS customs officials and the Detector Dog Unit responded to a tip-off from the South African Police Service’s Crime Intelligence unit about a suspicious vehicle near Swaziland’s Lembombo border post
After the driver of the vehicle failed to report to customs, the SARS officials moved to stop it.
Officials and detector dogs ended up finding “a large number of bags containing white powdery and crystal-like substances” which were hidden in the vehicle’s compartments between the bodywork and load bin at the back. Modifications had been made on the vehicle, providing access to the compromised area through trapdoors.
The officials confiscated 51 bags of Ephedrine with a street value of R3.7 million. Each bag weighed roughly one kilogram.
An additional 14 bags of Crystal Meth were confiscated, also each weighing one kilogram and in total, valued at R4.2 million.
The suspect, a South African, was apprehended and transferred to Lembombo border SAPS.
In two other incidents, customs officials seized illicit narcotics from two separate flights which had arrived from Sao Paulo, Brazil, on Sunday.
Although on separate flights, in both cases, the drugs were left in the toilets of the respective planes.
On the one plane, “a piece of cloth that looked like a sock was found containing 55 bullets” which was suspected to be cocaine and was valued at R414,000.
On the other aircraft, a detector dog alerted officials that an abandoned small, red backpack found beneath the toilet’s dustbin contained drugs. This weighed three kilograms and was worth R891, 000.
The narcotics found on the planes were handed over to the SAPS.
– African News Agency (ANA)
Disclaimer: This story is pulled directly from the African News Agency wire, and has not been edited by Mail & Guardian staff. The M&G does not accept responsibility for errors in any statement, quote or extract that may be contained therein.