Johannesburg - The Hawks are working with the Nigerian government to get to the bottom of why one of their citizens arrived in South Africa with R103 million in cash to buy weapons.
The man landed at Lanseria Airport on September 5 with $9.3m concealed in his luggage.
Hawks spokesman Paul Ramaloko said on Monday the Nigerian man said he was going to use the money to buy weapons that needed to be delivered to his home country. He said the company that traded in weapons was based in South Africa while the arms were allegedly being kept in another country.
Ramaloko said the man should have declared the money as well as his intention in terms of the National Conventional Arms Control Act.
“As a result, we are exploring every angle. We need to find out what the arms were for and if the person is lying. We are working with the Nigerian Intelligence and they are co-operative,” he said.
While reports stated the money was brought into the country by more than one person, Ramaloko said that was not true.
“The person arrived in the country in a chopper flown by an Israeli. There were four passengers in it.
“Two were checked out and let go, a third was detained by the Department of Health for not having the yellow fever certificate, and the fourth man was the one who had the money. The pilot said he did not know what was in the man’s luggage.”
Sars spokesman Adrian Lackay said the Reserve Bank was keeping the money safe while investigations continued.
A passenger travelling to South Africa can only carry R25 000 or an equivalent in foreign currency in cash, but this has to be declared when they enter the country.
The regulation is to combat money laundering and to ensure that the money is not the proceeds of a crime.
The Star