Weekend Argus (Saturday Edition)
R2 billion worth of contraband
Sars releases official figures
GOODS smuggled mainly through the country’s airports, from rhino horn to drugs totalling more than R2 billion, have been confiscated by Sars.
The staggering amount was involved in high-profile cases disclosed by Sars yesterday that detailed figures of illicit flow in and out of the country for April last year from to last month.
Eric Pelser, head of the Trans- National Organised Crime in Africa programme at the Institute of Security Studies said: “What the figures don’t tell you is the size of the market and the increasing size of the flow.”
He referred to how heroin busts alone had increased exponentially over the past 20 years. The biggest of Sars’s 46 busts took place on March 1 and 2 with the discovery of crystal methamphetamine (tik) with an estimated value of R30 million stashed in fridges on a truck which arrived in Cape Town from Johannesburg.
Currency smuggling saw the highest number of busts – six, involving more than R57m, while three cases of cocaine smuggling involved contraband with the highest value – more than R73m.
Other smuggled included:
Rhino horn with an estimated value of R5 752 000 en route from South Africa to Hong Kong, at OR Tambo International Airport.
Cocaine with an estimated value of R56 676 900 en route from Brazil to Australia via South Africa, at OR Tambo International Airport
Cocaine with an estimated value of R10 069 500 en route from Brazil to Namibia via South Africa, at OR Tambo International Airport
Cocaine with an estimated value of R7 480 200 en route from Brazil to Congo via South Africa seized at OR Tambo International Airport
Tik with an estimated value of R7 200 000 from Nigeria to South Africa, at OR Tambo International Airport
Rhino horn with an estimated value of R4 600 000 en route from Zambia to Hong Kong via South Africa, at OR Tambo International Airport
goods
US dollars valued at R6 717 848 en route from South Africa to Dubai, at OR Tambo International Airport
Ecstasy with an estimated value of R33 600 000 en route from Cameroon via Kenya to South Africa, at OR Tambo International Airport
US dollars valued at R10 328 010 en route from South Africa to Canada, at OR Tambo International Airport.
US dollars valued at R10 069 249 en route from Angola to South Africa, at OR Tambo International Airport.
Sexual enhancement tablets valued at R5 260 000 en route from India via Seychelles to South Africa, at OR Tambo International Airport.
Rands and US dollars valued at R10 323 591 en route from South Africa to Dubai, at Cape Town International Airport.
Tik with an estimated value of R6 180 000 en route within South Africa, at OR Tambo International Airport.
Abalone with an estimated value of R10m en route from South Africa to China, at Port Elizabeth harbour.
Kamagra (generic Viagra) valued at R4m en route from India to South Africa, at OR Tambo International Airport.
Ephedrine with an estimated value of R17 202 000 en route from Kenya to South Africa, at OR Tambo International Airport.
US dollars and pound sterling valued at R15m en route from South Africa to Dubai, at OR Tambo International Airport.
Viagra valued at R9m en route from Dubai to South Africa and OR Tambo International Airport.
Tik with an estimated value of R8 358 000 en route from Rwanda to South Africa, at OR Tambo International Airport.
Ephedrine with an estimated value of R17 202 000 en route from Kenya to South Africa, at OR Tambo International Airport.
Other recent busts by Sars were of 108kg of drugs hidden in boxes and declared as “calcium carbonate”.
“Officials inspected the boxes in the cargo section at OR Tambo Airport after they arrived from Kenya on Tuesday, ” Sars said.
“They discovered a white powdery substance and a brown sand- like substance, which they sent to a private laboratory for testing.
“The results came back positive for the drug ketamine and acetylanthranil, a base ingredient for methaqualone (Mandrax).
On Thursday, Sars found 6 000kg of cannabis worth more than R9m at the border crossing from Lesotho at Ficksburg in the Free State.
The driver was taken into custody. According to chief officer for customs and excise Teboho Mokoena the seizure of counterfeit clothing, footwear and other goods made up the biggest contribution, amounting to R1.8bn.
Next was drugs amounting to over R326m.
This week, the Hawks began a new tally for KwaZulu-Natal when they raided a Bluff container depot, seizing counterfeit clothing.
King Shaka International Airport featured in the Sars report for a currency smuggling bust, of which more than R6m in SA and US banknotes, were headed for Dubai.