Durban – South African Police Service (SAPS) officers at the Durban Harbour have intercepted a huge consignment of cocaine worth an estimated R1.3 billion.
The contraband weighed 300 kg, authorities said Friday.
Acting National Commissioner SAPS Lieutenant General Tebello Mosikili said the massive drug bust demonstrates that the police were intensifying their efforts in disrupting and dismantling organised syndicates.
A multidisciplinary law enforcement team led by the SAPS Organised Crime Investigations unit was acting on intelligence-driven information that said a vessel suspected of carrying illicit drugs was arriving in SA from South America on Thursday, (23 February 2023).
The team immediately operationalised the information and conducted surveillance where they identified the vessel.
Together with the South African Revenue Service customs officials and K9 dogs, the law enforcement teams identified the container Thursday morning.
The containers were inspected after they were unloaded in the Durban Harbour, where an inspection revealed zinc metal products and several black bags containing 378 bricks of pure cocaine estimated to have a value of R1.3 billion.
The illicit cargo and what appears to be cellular tracking devices were handed over to SAPS for further investigations.
“Well done to all teams involved including our Transnational Drug Trafficking investigations unit,” said Lt Gen Mosikili.
“This should send a stern warning to all drug traffickers utilising our harbours that South Africa continues to intensify its efforts to dismantle and disrupt the global drug trafficking trade.”
No arrests have been made and investigations are continuing to establish the source and destination of the drugs.
SARS Commissioner Edward Kieswetter praised the well-co-ordinated work of all enforcement agencies involved in the operation.
“By working together, government has shown once again that it is determined to fight the scourge of narcotics entering the country and destroying the lives of its users, especially the youth,” Kieswetter said.
“SARS will not tolerate these illegal activities but will rather continue to fulfil its mandate of facilitating legal trade to further economic development of our country.”
