SA drug busts exceed world figures
POLICE commissioner General Riah Phiyega has told Parliament that police seized 440.2 million kilograms of dagga in 2014/15. That’s more than 8kg for every person in the country.
The UN’s 2014 World Drug Report says worldwide dagga seizures totalled 5 350 tons in 2012. Yet the South African police claim to have confiscated 82 times as much in 2014/15.
At a conservative street value estimate of R50 a gram, the SAPS seizure is worth R22 trillion, many times South Africa’s gross domestic product.
Phiyega’s presentation to the police portfolio committee last week also listed other seizures, including 212 362kg of heroin, 122 140kg of cocaine, 598 743kg of crystal meth (tik), 304 865kg of whoonga, 1 926 256kg of nyaope, and 1 540 992 583 litres of liquor from unlicensed premises.
The illegal liquor confiscation is enough to fill 616 Olympicsized swimming pools and works out at about 40 litres per person over the age of 14 years.
The heroin haul also tops global numbers. The UN 2015 World Drug Report notes that last year “more than 2 200kg of heroin was seized on the Indian Ocean by the Combined Maritime Forces, which is more than the total reported heroin seizures for the whole of Africa between 2011 and 2013”.