Two long-distance bus drivers were arrested in Beaufort West after being found in possession of the drug plant khat, with a street value of R36 600, Western Cape police said on Friday.
The arrests – by the Karoo dog unit – happened at around 6.40am, after police received information about a bus transporting drugs, said Captain Frederick van Wyk.
“When the SA Police Service members stopped the bus on the N1 highway industrial area, they searched it and found an unmarked carton box in the luggage compartment filled with 366 bundles of the illegal plant khat,” he said.
Van Wyk said the two drivers, aged 33 and 49, both from Darling in the Western Cape, were arrested after they could not explain who owned the box.
The luxury bus was impounded and the passengers transferred to another one.
Once charged, the men were expected to appear in the Beaufort West Magistrate's Court, said Van Wyk.
Khat is a type of flowering plant that, when chewed, causes mild euphoria. – Sapa