By Bahle Gama
The South African Police Service (SAPS) in conjunction with Custom officers of the South African Revenue Service (SARS) have seized E1.3 billion worth of Cocaine in Durban.
During an early morning raid on Friday, a container ship at Durban Harbour was found with cocaine weighing 300kg in one of the containers on board.
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The pure cocaine was reportedly detected after a week-long intelligence-driven operation led by the SARS National Targeting Unit, which led to the SARS Marine unit, Durban Operations, SAPS Crime Intelligence and National Detective Services boarding the vessel that was coming from South America to secure several containers profiled by SARS.
The containers were inspected after they were unloaded in the Durban Harbour and the inspection revealed zinc metal products and several black bags containing 378 bricks of pure Cocaine.
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The illicit cargo and what appear to be cellular tracking devices were handed over to SAPS for further investigations. SARS Commissioner Edward Kieswetter praised the well-co-ordinated work of all enforcement agencies involved in the operation stated that by working together, the government had shown once again that it is determined to fight the scourge of narcotics entering the country, and destroying the lives of its users, especially the youth.
“SARS will not tolerate these illegal activities but will rather continue to fulfil its mandate of facilitating legal trade to further the economic development of our country,” said Kieswetter.
