Lerato Mbhiza
A month-long intelligence-driven operation by the South African Police Service (SAPS) and the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (Hawks) netted cocaine with a street value of R72 million at the Durban Harbour on Wednesday.
The drugs were found in a container from a ship from Brazil and transported to a warehouse in the south of Durban where over 200 plastic-wrapped cocaine blocks were discovered floating in the paint.
According to Fannie Masemola, the National Police Commissioner, no arrests have yet been made in this case in connection with the drug bust which was a culmination of a two-month SAP intelligence-driven operation.
Police officers stationed at the Durban harbour have been monitoring and keeping an eye out for a ship leaving Brazil for South Africa for the past month, Masemola said.
The shipment was headed for Gauteng and this was just the beginning of the SAPS’s safer festive season operations.
“Just last week, we confiscated R75 million worth of counterfeit goods in Cape Town,” said Masemola who together with Police Minister Bheki Cele and KZN Police Commissioner Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi were briefly allowed inside the warehouse where they were escorted by members of the media.
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