Massive drug bust at OR Tambo airport

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South African Police are hard at work trying to establish the destination and the intended recipient of the 143kg of cocaine found at OR Tambo International Airport.

During a routine search on Friday morning police at the international airport in Gauteng found 143kg of cocaine with a street value of about R50 million.

The drug was found hidden in 147 hair product bottles, police said on Saturday. This is one of the largest drug recoveries by the authorities in the ports of entry.
“This cocaine consignment arrived from Brazil and information displayed on the cargo indicated that it was in transit to Cotonou, Benin, in West Africa,” Police spokesperson Brigadier Vishnu Naidoo said.

The SAPS was already hard at work trying to establish if the consignment was indeed on the way to that destination and to find out who the intended recipient was.

The drugs are currently being tested at the SAPS forensic laboratory in Pretoria, he said.

National Commissioner of the Police, General Riah Phiyega, said: “The continuous discovery of drugs by both the SAPS and the customs officials gives us a comfortable feeling that our ports of entry are manned by committed people, who understand the mission and mandate.
“Although we would have loved to arrest someone in connection with this recovery, we take comfort in the knowledge that this huge stash did not find its way into any community in the country, where lives could have been ruined”.