Customs officials from the South African Revenue Service (Sars) arrested four suspected drug mules, including an air stewardess, and confiscated drugs worth R4.2 million at OR Tambo International Airport in Johannesburg in recent days.
In a separate incident, a random search of a box at the airport’s mail distribution outlet also saw officials seize ephedrine, an ingredient used in tik, worth R1.8 million. The box came from India.
In the latest incident on Sunday, a Bolivian woman en route to Maputo, Mozambique was arrested after a detector dog and x-ray scanners were used on one of her bags. Four blocks of a “white powdery substance” was found.
“These were confirmed to be cocaine weighing 9kg estimated at R2 589,” Sars spokesman Sandile Memela said.
On Friday, a crew member aboard a South African airliner was searched. Officials found cocaine weighing 6.5 kilogrammes with a street value of R1.9 million in a body wrap underneath her uniform.
Another South African woman, who had no luggage, had her handbag searched by two detector dogs at the airport. Drugs worth R575,000 was found hidden inside her handbag.
In a separate incident, a man en route to Kinshasa from Johannesburg was referred to a hospital for x-rays. The x-rays revealed several “objects in his stomach that tested positive for cocaine after he expelled one of them”.
The suspects and drugs were handed over to the South African Police Service for further investigation.