Pretoria – SA Revenue Service (Sars) customs officers confiscated dagga and heroin worth more than R3 million in two separate incidents in the past 48 hours, Sars said on Friday.
Over 500kg of dagga was found hidden in a truck headed for Namibia at the Nakop border post in the Northern Cape early on Friday morning. This was one of the biggest dagga busts by customs officials yet, Sars said in a statement.
“The cannabis (dagga) was found in plastic bags hidden in the base of beds and inside mattresses, and is valued at R2.8 million.”
A customs official at Nakop stopped the driver and co-driver of a white Hyundai light delivery vehicle at about 2am on Friday morning and searched the vehicle.
“The three-ton truck, carrying 12 beds and mattresses, was taken for physical verification of the goods against the declared customs documents. Upon further inspection by the customs officers, it was detected that bags wrapped in plastic were hidden in the base of the beds and inside the mattresses,” Sars said.
The inspection revealed dagga packed in 23 large bags containing about 100 smaller packages each, amounting to 2300 parcels in total. The estimated value of the dagga, weighing 575.5kg, was R2.8 million.
Both the driver and co-driver were handed over to the SA Police Service (SAPS) at Nakop, who arrested them. The delivery truck was detained at Nakop border post pending the outcome of the investigation.
“In the second incident, a customs detector dog and handler were doing inspections of parcels at DHL at OR Tambo International Airport (ORTIA) when the dog reacted positively to a parcel destined for Spain,” Sars said.
They then discovered four bags containing a powder-like substance hidden in the cut-out pages of a book. The substance tested positive for heroin. Altogether 1kg of heroin, valued at R201 810, was found.
“These are significant seizures by Sars customs who implement daily inspections in an effort to foil smuggling of goods. Sars will continue to work with other law enforcement agencies to protect the country and its citizens by disrupting organised crime and reducing illicit trade activities,” Sars said.
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