Customs officials on Monday made what the South African Revenue Service (Sars) is calling “one of biggest cocaine busts ever” at O R Tambo International Airport.
The 26.48 kg of cocaine was found in a bag that was inspected “after the airline had failed to locate the owner of the bag”‚ Sars said in a statement.
A “cream colour” substance‚ which tested positive for cocaine‚ was packed in 19 compressed blocks and seven plastic bags.
A luggage tag said the was en route to London from South Africa‚ but Sars said that “experience gained from previous incidents suggests that the drugs could have originated from South America”.
“It is suspected that such shipments are brought into SA by one passenger then handed over to another passenger on an onward flight to Europe or Africa‚” the statement said.
This discovery of the cocaine follows that of 40000 Viagra tablets earlier the same day at the Johannesburg International Mail Centre. The tablets‚ contained in two boxes sent from Hong Kong‚ “were falsely declared as plastic toys”.
Big cocaine bust at ORT follows Viagra discovery of 40,000 Viagra tablets
The 26.48 kg of cocaine was found in a bag that was inspected “after the airline had failed to locate the owner of the bag”‚ Sars said in a statement.
A “cream colour” substance‚ which tested positive for cocaine‚ was packed in 19 compressed blocks and seven plastic bags.
A luggage tag said the was en route to London from South Africa‚ but Sars said that “experience gained from previous incidents suggests that the drugs could have originated from South America”.
“It is suspected that such shipments are brought into SA by one passenger then handed over to another passenger on an onward flight to Europe or Africa‚” the statement said.
This discovery of the cocaine follows that of 40000 Viagra tablets earlier the same day at the Johannesburg International Mail Centre. The tablets‚ contained in two boxes sent from Hong Kong‚ “were falsely declared as plastic toys”.
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