The National Commissioner of the South African Police Service(SAPS) , General Fannie Masemola has reiterated his stance in saying South Africa is not a playground for criminals and that any anyone who finds themselves on the wrong side of the law will be sniffed out from any corner of this country and made to answer to crimes committed.
General Masemola has also at the same time applauded a multidisciplinary team working at the OR TAMBO International Airport for their continued vigilance that continues to yield positive results. In the past two months, more than R13 million worth of drugs including R12 million worth of cocaine has been seized at OR Tambo Airport. 9 Drug traffickers/ Drug mules have been arrested during this same period.
All suspects were arrested in the possession of these drugs. In the latest success, OR Tambo police led the arrest of a Nigerian drug mule on Friday evening (13 September 2024). Police were working closely with airport security, BMA, customs officials and ACSA staff when the arrests were effected. This drug mule had just landed from São Paulo and was connecting to Nigeria when he met with a cleaner at the airport and handed him with airline headphones.
Suspecting that there was something amiss, the team opened the aircraft headphones and found cocaine stashed in the headphones. The drug mule who claims he is a street vendor in Nigeria claims he was in Brazil to buy clothes and shoes which he sells in his home country – police are investigating this aspect – to prove that this may be used as a decoy by this drug trafficker. The cleaner, who noticed that police were hot on his heels- evaded arrested.
Police have since launched a manhunt for him. General Masemola says the men and women in blue remain dedicated to putting a stop to the illicit drug trafficking trade. He says these arrests and drug confiscations should serve as a deterrent to other drug traffickers, that they will be caught.
