Container were the cocaine was found. Image supplied.
Watch: Cocaine worth R720m confiscated from Port Elizabeth docks in international drug bust [video]
Local authorities assisted Interpol to intercept the cargo from Brazil on its way to Singapore and India.
Container were the cocaine was found. Image supplied.
As reported by eNCA, the cocaine was found in a ship in the Port of Ngqura on the outskirts of Port Elizabeth. It is one of South Africa’s busiest ports. The cocaine was seized on 7 January and head of the Hawks, Godfrey Lebeya, briefed the media on Tuesday.
He said netted 1kg bags totalling more than 700kg were found stashed below the decks, sealed in the frame of a shipping container under 3,369 other containers. Lebeya added that the “crooks were determined to ensure nobody would detect” the shipment.
The Hawks, SAPS, border police, customs, the Darkwater K9 unit, and various other departments assisted Interpol to uncover the international drug smuggling operation. According to the Hawks, the investigation is ongoing “between Brazil, India and Singapore.”
Well done Hawks @SAPoliceService on the second biggest cocaine bust in South Africa. A ship was searched in Port Elizabeth. The container originated in Brazil. #CrimeWatch
— Yusuf Abramjee (@Abramjee) January 8, 2019
Lebeya said the cargo was meant for India via Singapore. The ship was not seized as the investigation revealed that the transporting company was not involved. He explained: “The cartel themselves won’t be travelling with the ship. They loaded the cargo as far as Brazil where this thing started.”
Soon after the drugs were seized, former Cuban spy Nelson Yester-Garrido was arrested in Hyde Park, Johannesburg. According to Herald Live, charges against Yester-Garrido were dropped “following numerous delays in the case.” Yester-Garrido had in the past been linked Glenn Agliotti’s smuggling operations.
Lebeya urged the media: “We will not be allowing these substances to go and ruin the lives of innocent people [who are] being turned into drug addicts. We are making a call to the listeners and the viewers: do not do drugs. Do not demand drugs. Do not apply for a criminal record by doing drugs. If you stop demanding drugs, cartels will not be producing and delivering. Cartels will fall.”
Officials sort through items confiscated during a R700m cocaine bust at the at Port of Ngqura. Read more about the bust: https://t.co/WIVFpHCrW6
— HeraldLIVE (@HeraldPE) January 8, 2019
? @garethwilson pic.twitter.com/UyfnLsqOCU
Read: Exposed: How drugs produced in Nigeria find their way into South Africa
