Johannesburg - Two suspected drug mules will appear in the Kempton Park Magistrate’s Court on Monday.
A third would appear in the court on Tuesday, after spending time in hospital to get capsules of cocaine he had swallowed out of his system.
The three were arrested at OR Tambo International Airport last weekend for allegedly attempting to smuggle drugs with a total value of about R1.5-million into South Africa, Colonel Vishnu Naidoo said at the time.
On Saturday, March 10, Dawn Whelinena Sampson, from Guyana, arrived on a plane from Sao Paulo, Brazil. He was searched, and found carrying three laptops.
“Police found just under three kilograms of cocaine concealed inside the three laptops with a total value of approximately R1-million.”
Wilfredo Wilder Pen Saavedra, from Peru, arrived on the same flight.
“He was suspected of having swallowed drugs, and after having undergone X-rays, it was discovered that he indeed had swallowed foreign objects suspected to be cocaine to the value of approximately R300 000,” Naidoo said.
On Sunday, March 11, police arrested Nigerian citizen Odinaka Aloysius Ilona, also on a flight from Sao Paulo. He was X-rayed and found to have swallowed cocaine.
“He has since discharged capsules (bullets) containing cocaine to the value of approximately R200 000.”
Sampson and Saavedra appeared in the Kempton Park Magistrate's Court last Monday and had their case postponed to March 19. The case against Ilona was postponed, in absentia, to March 20. - Sapa