By Johnathan Paoli
Retired Hawks Serious Organised Crime unit head Lieutenant-Colonel Jakobus Prinsloo told the Madlanga Commission of Inquiry on Thursday that senior Hawks leadership failed to act after an attempted break-in at the Port Shepstone offices weeks before the theft of 541kg of cocaine.
Completing his testimony before the commission, Prinsloo said the attempted burglary occurred in late October 2021 when intruders tried to gain access through the kitchen side of the office, leaving behind a broken window.
Prinsloo said he immediately investigated the incident, compiled a factual report and informed his direct superior at the time, Brigadier Campbell Nyuswa.
“I had called him to inform him about the incident. He seemed unfazed. No steps were taken by the provincial office to enhance security even after this attempted break-in happened,” Prinsloo testified.
According to Prinsloo, the attempted burglary should have raised serious concerns, particularly because more than half a ton of cocaine had remained stored inside the office strong room for months after being brought there in June 2021.
The commission heard that despite national instructions requiring drug exhibits to be transferred to forensic laboratories, the cocaine remained at the Port Shepstone office under what Prinsloo described as inadequate security conditions.
“Even after the exhibits were stored at the office, security did not improve. One would have thought the provincial office would have taken serious steps to ensure the security of the office,” he said.
The inquiry also heard that days before the theft, Lieutenant-Colonel Gavin Jacob from Durban Serious Organised Crime Investigations contacted Prinsloo to arrange another weighing of the cocaine exhibits.
Prinsloo said the weighing did not take place because he had to attend a workshop.
He told the commission that on the morning of 8 November 2021, he arrived at the office shortly after 06:00 and initially noticed nothing unusual.
Moments later, Warrant Officer BJ Pienaar contacted him and said they “had a big problem”, asking him to come to his office.
“As I was walking down, I could smell a peculiar scent which you would normally have when metal was grinded with a grinder,” Prinsloo said.
He testified that he found the office ransacked and the strong room breached.
“I saw that the office was thrashed. I also noticed that the safe door was halfway opened and the blue chair which was inside the safe was outside, and that the locks were grinded off. The passage was covered in dark powdery substance. I walked to the safe and saw that all the exhibits were taken,” he said.
Prinsloo said he immediately contacted Brigadier Nyuswa, while officers from the Local Criminal Record Centre and Visible Policing units were called to process the scene.
The commission also heard details of the internal fallout after the theft, including extensive polygraph testing of Hawks members stationed in Port Shepstone.
Prinsloo said he was summoned to the office of KwaZulu-Natal Hawks head Major-General Lesetja Senona, where he was interviewed by Deputy National Commissioner for Policing Lieutenant-General Tebello Mosikili.
“They interviewed me about the break-in and that interview lasted about an hour and a half. I did tell Lieutenant-General Mosikili that the alarm was not serviced and was not linked to a security company. She was very shocked and made notes,” he said.
“Subsequently, there were follow-up internal investigations. All the members at the office were called for polygraph testing. We all underwent the test,” he added.
Prinsloo said ordinary members underwent three-hour examinations, while his own polygraph test lasted six hours.
“I was treated as a suspect, but I did pass my test nonetheless,” he said.
Commission chairperson Mbuyiseli Madlanga asked Prinsloo whether officers involved in transporting and delivering the cocaine to Port Shepstone had also undergone polygraph testing.
“Commissioner, that was never communicated to us. What was communicated to me was that I got a letter with everybody from Port Shepstone’s names on it and the dates they had to report for the polygraph testing,” Prinsloo replied.
Prinsloo also told the commission that Hawks officials themselves remained his primary suspects in the theft.
“If I were to draw up a list of suspects as to who stole this cocaine, members of the DPCI would be number one on my list. I do not discount the possibility that other people outside of the DPCI, possibly even outside of SAPS, could have been informed by the DPCI or SAPS that the cocaine was stored in Port Shepstone. But number one for me would be members of the DPCI,” he said.
Proceedings adjourned for the day, with a new witness expected to testify on Friday morning.
INSIDE POLITICS
