Scania – the global company with sales of trucks, buses, and services in 100 countries – moves lots of parts around the globe and perhaps unbeknownst to the Swedish owners lots of cocaine.
Scania’s production units are located in Asia, Europe, and South America, which illicitly produces about 200 tons of cocaine a year.
Last week South Africa’s elite crime busters – the Hawks – intercepted a contraband shipment of 973 bricks of cocaine.
The international company, which says “the news that criminals are using Scania’s supply chain to perform illegal activities is unfortunate” has about 50 000 workers around the globe.
This week Scania confirmed that its shipment of truck kits imported from South America was used to bring drugs to South Africa.
The illegal shipment – worth half a billion rand on the streets – was seized at the Durban Harbour on July 30, 2021.
The Hawks said the drug bust involving the import of Scania parts was the second in recent months. They even released a photograph of an unnamed man they said was the mastermind.
RELATED: Drug Bust: Hawks Release Photo Of ‘Mastermind’
On 9 July there was a similar drug seizure in Aeroton, Johannesburg.
While Scania officials in South Africa say they are cooperating with authorities, the owners of the company in Sweden have a completely different focus.
They are boasting that Sweden’s first-ever hydrogen-powered refuse collection truck is now rolling through the streets of Gothenburg.
Still, Scania in South Africa says it “is responding to these events with the urgency they require”.
Commenting on the drug bust, Nomonde Kweyi, General Manager, Marketing and Communications said: “Scania South Africa is cooperating fully and in compliance with its legal obligations with the Hawks and their investigation”.
If reports are true that confisticated guns in police safekeep are finding their way into the hands of criminals, one can only wonder how much of the seized contraband has already found its way to dealers.
