SAA crew member bust with 35 000 pills

File photo: Itumeleng English

File photo: Itumeleng English

Published Nov 22, 2016

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Johannesburg - A South African Airways (SAA) crew member has been granted bail after he was arrested with more than 35 000 epilepsy and haemorrhoids prescription tablets, police said on Tuesday.

Brigadier Selvy Mohlala said Samuel Thami Mthembu, a 32-year-old South African citizen, was arrested by customs during a routine search on Saturday after he did not declare the tablets with customs officials.

Mohlala said everyone is prohibited by law from carrying such large quantities of tablets since they are supposed to be kept at a certain temperature so as to not pose a danger to other passengers.

“Mthembu, who is employed as a SAA crew member, was arrested by customs after 35,902 Epilim, Gabapentin brown and Burk and Proctosedyl Suppositones tablets were found concealed in his travelling bag,” Mohlala said.

“The estimated street value has not yet been confirmed. We are not sure at the moment what he was going to do with them. The suspect was travelling from London to OR Tambo International Airport.”

Mthembu was granted bail of R1 000 at the Kempton Park Magistrate's Court on Monday after facing charges of dealing in drugs and would appear in court again on February 3 next year.

Mohlala said on the same day police at OR Tambo Airport also arrested a 38-year-old woman for allegedly dealing in drugs worth more than R3 million.

Mohlala said Idaia Abudo Ussene, a Mozambican national, was handed to the SAPS Trans-National Investigation Team based at OR Tambo to conduct further investigations

“In a separate incident Ussene who was en route from Soa Paulo, Brazil to Maputo, Mozambique was found to have concealed cocaine in a luggage bag containing handbags with a false compartment, weighing 10 410 grams and an estimated street value of R3 123 000.”

Mohlala said Ussene was been denied bail by the Kempton Park Magistrate's Court on Monday and and was remanded in custody. She would appear in court again on February 3 as well.

African News Agency

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