By Johnathan Paoli
Warrant Officer Mbongeleni Mpangase has reaffirmed that then Lieutenant-General Gavin Jacob took full control of the 2021 Durban container drug bust in which 541kg of cocaine was confiscated, transported and later stolen from Directorate of Priority Crime Investigations (Hawks) offices in Port Shepstone.
Appearing before the Madlanga Commission of Inquiry on Friday, Mpangase, currently attached to SAPS Pietermaritzburg but then part of the Hawks, said that Jacob directed every major decision during the operation, from documenting the search to arranging the controversial relocation of the cocaine after Isipingo police said they had no space to store it.
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Mpangase said that Jacob assumed command after the container was identified at the CHC Depot in Isipingo following intelligence received from a Crime Intelligence (CI) operative.
“I was instructed by Col Jacob that we should book them out and transport them to Port Shepstone,” Mpangase told the commission through interpreter Vusimuzi Nkabinde.
He said that he had initially been called by Jacob on 21 June 2021 to assist with what was believed to be an operation involving between seven and eight kilograms of cocaine.
Mpangase said he suggested then Economic Protected Resources Warrant Officer Kwazikwakhe Sibiya join the operation because he had no prior experience dealing with container interceptions of that nature.
According to his statement, Jacob agreed to participate personally after Mpangase requested that he attend because the intelligence source belonged to him and the operation required someone with experience.
After meeting the Crime Intelligence operative in Isipingo, the team proceeded to the container depot where the depot manager granted them permission to conduct a search.
Mpangase said the container’s seal was intact before it was opened, revealing 27 black canvas bags filled with cocaine bricks wrapped in yellow and black plastic bearing Jaguar and TikTok emblems.
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After the drugs were transported to Isipingo SAPS, officers recounted the contents.
“We counted the content of each bag, and it was found that each bag had twenty bricks of cocaine. Only one bag had twenty-one bricks of cocaine,” Mpangase said.
He testified that problems arose when the exhibit clerk at Isipingo informed them there was no available storage space for the massive seizure.
“I told him that we were going to leave them there for safekeeping. He told me that he had no space to keep exhibits there, we must take them with us and keep them somewhere,” he said.
Mpangase said Jacob then began making calls in search of suitable storage.
Amanzimtoti’s Forensic Science Laboratory reportedly also lacked capacity because its building was undergoing repairs following flood damage, and Jacob subsequently instructed that the cocaine be transported to the Hawks offices in Port Shepstone.
The commission heard that an escort convoy accompanied the exhibits to Port Shepstone, where officers were shown a walk-in safe used for storing exhibits.
Mpangase testified that KwaZulu-Natal Hawks head Major-General Lesetja Senona and Brigadier Nyuswa were present while the drugs were being secured.
He recalled Senona inspecting the storage facility before instructing that the safe keys be handed to him.
“General Senona was checking if the storeroom was suitable to store exhibits. After storing exhibits in the safe, the safe was locked and General Senona instructed that the keys be left with him,” he said.
Mpangase said he returned to Port Shepstone the following day on Jacob’s instructions to seal the cocaine in forensic exhibit bags before returning again another day to collect samples from randomly selected bricks for forensic analysis.
Those samples were handed to Sibiya for safekeeping until Jacob returned from leave.
Mpangase told the commission he was shocked when he later learnt the drugs had been stolen, as he believed they had already been transferred to the Forensic Science Laboratory in Pretoria, adding that he had no knowledge of who broke into the storage facility or whether adequate security measures had been in place.
The commission continues.
