Pretoria, 5 November 2012 – In the space of 4 days (2 – 5 November), the SARS Customs team at OR Tambo International have prevented over 17kg of drugs from entering the country.
The most significant seizure was 10kg of Methamphetamine / Crystal Meth (“Tik”), found on a male passenger who arrived from Delhi via Doha. He was intercepted for further checks, was questioned and his luggage was searched. The drugs were found concealed in shoes, rolls of ribbon and lever arch files. The drugs have a likely street value of around R3.7 million. The passenger was handed over to the SAPS.
In addition to this seizure, 6 different individuals, disembarking from flights originating in Sao Paulo, Brazil, were stopped and found to be carrying over 7kg of cocaine between them. These 6 smuggling attempts saw drugs concealed in a number of ways – as “body wraps” under clothes, in the soles of shoes and in false bottoms in luggage, and as “bullets” which were concealed anally. More bullets were found discarded in the sewage system of one of the aircraft.
All the individuals involved – who were mostly South African citizens – were handed over to the SAPS for further action.
