JOHANNESBURG: Law enforcement agencies seized drugs with a combined estimated street value of more than R209 million in two separate operations this weekend, intercepting a large cocaine consignment at OR Tambo International Airport and arresting a man during a raid in Gqeberha.
At the airport, a multidisciplinary team from the South African Police Service (SAPS), SARS Customs and the Border Management Authority intercepted five luggage bags containing 216 blocks of cocaine.
The consignment weighed about 250kg and had an estimated street value of more than R200 million, according to police.
National Police Commissioner General Fannie Masemola commended the officers’ vigilance and professionalism, saying SAPS would continue working with its partners to identify, intercept and dismantle drug-trafficking operations.
Police described the seizure as evidence of the value of coordinated enforcement against networks seeking to move illicit substances through South Africa’s ports of entry.
OR Tambo records 116 drug-mule arrests
According to SAPS, 116 people described as drug mules have been arrested at OR Tambo over the past 24 months, an average of more than one a week.
The latest interception follows another major cocaine seizure at the airport in August, when SARS Customs found more than 333kg, valued at an estimated R167 million, in baggage and cargo from a single flight arriving from São Paulo, Brazil.
Officials discovered 75 bricks weighing 83kg in two suitcases in the international arrivals hall. A narcotics detector dog, Lagertha, then helped uncover another 250kg in four unmanifested cargo boxes offloaded from the same flight.
SARS Commissioner Johnstone Makhubu said at the time that the operation demonstrated the agency’s growing ability to detect and disrupt sophisticated smuggling syndicates.
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“Every successful seizure helps protect communities from the devastating impact of drug trafficking,” he said.
Police spokesperson Athlenda Mathe said the interceptions sent a warning that South Africa would not be allowed to serve as a transit point or market for illicit drugs.
No arrests were made in connection with the August seizures.
Suspected drugs found in garage raid
In Gqeberha, police arrested a 38-year-old man on Saturday during an intelligence-driven operation in Rowallan Park.
The raid formed part of the SAPS National Organised Crime Intervention, which targets violent organised crime. Officers working under Operation Ukubuza executed a search warrant at an identified property and found the man inside a vehicle parked in the garage.
A search of the vehicle uncovered substances suspected to be mandrax, cocaine and tik, along with drug-packaging materials and cash believed to be the proceeds of crime.
Police put the drugs’ estimated street value at more than R9.7 million. The substances will undergo forensic testing to establish their composition.
The suspect is expected to appear in the Gqeberha Magistrate’s Court on Monday on drug-related charges. Investigations are continuing.
Operation Ukubuza expands its reach
The Rowallan Park raid is the largest seizure reported so far under Operation Ukubuza in Gqeberha.
In August, officers conducting an operation under the same name in the city’s Central area seized suspected drugs worth about R1.5 million and arrested three people. The substances included dagga, tik, cocaine and mandrax.
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Acting Nelson Mandela Bay district commissioner Brigadier Loyiso Ngalo said that operation had removed “a significant quantity of suspected drugs from the streets”.
The latest raid comes against a backdrop of persistent gang violence in Gqeberha’s northern areas, where the drug trade has fuelled insecurity and restricted residents’ daily lives.
In February, Eastern Cape Premier Oscar Mabuyane’s office said it would ask President Cyril Ramaphosa to deploy the army to the affected communities.
“The situation in the northern areas of Gqeberha is extremely serious,” Mabuyane’s spokesperson, Sonwabo Mbananga, said at the time.
Helenvale community activist Rina Potgieter told Daily Maverick that residents had become “prisoners in our own homes”, with “almost a shooting every day”.
Police Minister Firoz Cachalia acknowledged the scale of the challenge in January.
“I do not believe that we are currently in a position to defeat these gangs,” he said.
Soldiers and police have since conducted joint operations in hotspots including Gelvandale and Helenvale, searching properties for drugs and tracing suspects wanted for murder.
The weekend seizures have removed substantial quantities of suspected drugs from circulation. The investigations that follow will be crucial to establishing who organised the consignments, identifying the wider networks involved and securing prosecutions.
