By Johnathan Paoli
SAPS National Intervention Unit (NIU) officer Warrant Officer Steve Phakula has alleged that Gauteng Crime Intelligence head Major-General Feroz Khan “laughed” when confronted with rumours that a massive cocaine shipment seized during the 2021 Aeroton drug bust belonged to him.
Appearing before the Madlanga Commission of Inquiry on Wednesday, Phakula detailed his interactions with Khan following the drug bust.
“Major-General Khan asked me who the drugs belonged to and I told him that people say they belong to him and he laughed,” Phakula said.
The commission previously heard how 715kg of cocaine, worth an estimated R280 million, was seized during a raid at a Scania warehouse in Aeroton, south of Johannesburg.
It also heard that about 137kg later vanished and that the crime scene was severely contaminated, with the drugs transported on an open bakkie.
Phakula testified that Crime Information Management and Analysis Centre head Warrant Officer Marumo Magane had called him to the Aeroton scene after receiving information from Gauteng traffic Deputy Director Samuel Mashaba, whose informer, Tumelo Nku, had tipped police off about drugs being transported from Durban harbour to Johannesburg.
According to Phakula, the cocaine bricks had already been loaded onto Magane’s bakkie when he arrived. Booysens police officers later arrested him, Magane, Mashaba and Nku after Scania employees called 10111 and reported that bogus police officers were hijacking a truck.
Phakula said they later appeared in the Booysens Magistrate’s Court on drug trafficking charges, where he had initially expected to be released after prosecutors received a statement from his commander, Colonel Wiseman Siphungu, corroborating his version of events.
After being released on bail, Phakula said Khan requested a meeting.
According to Phakula, Khan sympathised with him and questioned why he had been arrested.
“I waited for him and then I saw him, Major-General Khan, driving in his greyish VW Golf 7. He sympathised with me and explained he still did not understand why I was arrested,” the warrant officer testified.
Phakula said Khan wanted information about how informer Nku became aware of the drug shipment moving from Durban harbour to Johannesburg.
He admitted that despite rumours linking Khan to the drugs, he nevertheless offered to arrange a meeting between Khan and the informer.
But commissioner Sesi Baloyi sharply questioned that decision, criticising Phakula’s apparent lack of concern.
“Why would you want to make the informer available to General Khan if in that same conversation you say to him, there’s talk that these drugs are yours? At the very least, it seems to me that you in fact would have been putting the informer’s life at risk,” she said.
Phakula conceded that he had exercised poor judgment.
He further testified that Khan indicated investigators were targeting his superior, Colonel Wiseman Siphungu, rather than him.
Phakula said he responded by telling Khan that Siphungu knew nothing about the operation and that he was the one who had informed him about it.
The commission was shown WhatsApp exchanges between Phakula and Khan arranging the September 2021 meeting.
In one message, Khan asked whether the warrant officer “would mind” if he brought Gauteng Hawks head Major-General Ebrahim Kadwa. Phakula replied that he would not be comfortable with that.
Phakula also testified that Khan promised to provide a statement to assist in his disciplinary hearing following his suspension from SAPS, but never did so.
Khan was arrested separately over the weekend alongside Kadwa and Durban businessman Tariq Downes on allegations linked to the possession of precious metals.
The trio appeared in the Kempton Park Magistrate’s Court and were each released on R20,000 bail.
Phakula’s testimony also contradicted evidence presented on Tuesday by Warrant Officer Marumo Magane regarding the handling of the Aeroton crime scene.
While Magane denied there had ever been a plan to process the drugs at Alberton police station, Phakula insisted “there was always a plan” for the 715kg haul to be taken there.
He described the Aeroton scene as chaotic and said unfamiliar officers arrived and attempted to seize control of the operation.
Under questioning from evidence leader advocate Teboho Mosikili, Phakula conceded that the crime scene had not been managed in accordance with SAPS procedures.
He admitted handling exhibit seals improperly and acknowledged that contamination of the scene had been unlawful.
Proceedings adjourned for the day and are expected to continue on Thursday morning.
INSIDE POLITICS
