Colonel Francois Steyn, the commander of the Gauteng West Rand Hawks, has told the Madlanga commission that police intercepted a tonne of cocaine shipped from Brazil to Johannesburg in July 2021, after Gauteng traffic officers initially attempted to seize the drugs from a logistics truck.
Steyn said a shipping container from the Port of Santos had arrived at Durban harbour late in the evening, “after hours”, before being transported to the Johannesburg premises of automotive manufacturer Scania South Africa.
“In the cavity between the body parts and the door of the container, they uncovered 999kg of cocaine bricks, which was reported to me later. So it is indeed correct that it’s basically a tonne, which they uncovered there,” Steyn said.
A Scania risk manager had later alerted the Hawks that a container from Durban harbour had attracted police interest and requested that only the Hawks inspect it. “So there is no other law enforcement involvement in this matter,” Steyn said.
After the Hawks had become involved, the drugs had been confiscated in Johannesburg. They were currently being held by the narcotics unit in Pretoria.
Steyn said the Hawks had taken over the investigation because the drug trafficking operation crossed international waters from the Port of Santos to Durban.
Gauteng traffic chief Ernst Mashaba had reportedly stopped a truck belonging to logistics company Yellow Jersey on its way to the Scania premises in Johannesburg. Mashaba had been denied access because he did not have a warrant.
“There was an unsuccessful attempt to search the container. As I indicated, the people at the Yellow Jersey said he did not have a search warrant, so he must rather deal with the end user, Scania,” said Steyn.
Commissioners questioned why traffic police had been involved in a drug bust, noting that it fell outside standard operating procedures. Steyn agreed that drug searches were outside the mandate of traffic officials.
Steyn said that when Mashaba had arrived at the Scania premises with another police officer, they had opened the container and about 23 bags had fallen out. He implicated warrant officer Phakula, who had earlier been identified for arrest by investigating officer Lieutenant General Sebola.
Last week, the commission heard evidence from Major General Hendrik Flynn, the head of the Hawks’ Serious Organised Crime Unit, who said the theft of 541kg of cocaine from Port Sheptstone Hawks premises had been an inside job. The cocaine had a street value of R200 million.
Steyn said the two drug busts in July 2021 in Port Shepstone and Johannesburg, where a tonne of cocaine bricks and 541kg of drugs were seized, pointed to entrenched criminal networks that used the rip-on/rip-off illicit trade method, where drugs are disguised as goods.
“Commissioners, in my humble opinion, I do not think these syndicates would be able to deal with this rip-on/rip-off method if corrupt officials are not involved,” Steyn said.
The Madlanga commission has heard how the Hawks intercepted nearly a tonne of cocaine shipped from Brazil to Johannesburg in July 2021, after an initial intervention by Gauteng traffic officers
