Nearly a ton of dagga found in NC
Post, Lieutenant Colonel Eugene van Kratenburg and two SAPS administration members were enroute from Upington to the border post when Van Kratenberg spotted the 34 striped bags lying in the veld.
“The bags were found approximately 16 kilometres from the border post,” Kock said.
He added that an investigation into the origin of the dagga had been launched.
Major General Kolie Matthys, commander of the ZF Mgcawu cluster, yesterday commended the members involved for their vigilance and vowed to continue with the fight against drugs.
In October, SARS customs officials at the same border post confiscated more than 500 kilogrammes of dagga which was found hidden in a truck headed for Namibia.
At the time it was reported to be one of the biggest dagga busts by customs officials yet.
The dagga was found in plastic bags hidden in the base of beds and inside mattresses and had an estimated street value of R2.8- illion.
A customs official at Nakop stopped the driver and co-driver of a white Hyundai Light Delivery vehicle (LDV) on October 30 2015 in order to search 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 officers, it was detected that bags wrapped in plastic were hidden in the base of the beds and inside the mattresses.
The inspection revealed dagga packed in 23 bags containing about 100 smaller packages each, amounting to 2 300 parcels in total.
Both the driver and passenger were handed over to the police. The truck was detained at Nakop Border Post pending the outcome of the investigation.
SARS Customs implement daily inspections at the border post in an effort to curb the 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,” it said at the time.