Durban - The Asset Forfeiture Unit (AFU) in KwaZulu-Natal obtained a forfeiture order from the Pietermaritzburg High Court to the value of more than R300 000 linked to a case that is currently before the court.
National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) regional spokesperson Natasha Ramkisson-Kara said approximately R319 000 was seized on Friday.
Ramkisson-Kara said the order came as a result of a criminal matter that was currently before the Pietermaritzburg Regional Court.
She said that in November 2017, SAPS members were acting on information they received when they found a suspicious-looking car parked in the Edendale area.
“On searching the vehicle, they found mandrax tablets concealed in a plastic bag under the driver’s seat. The driver directed them to a house in the area where he had obtained the drugs,” she said.
Ramkisson-Kara said that after a search-and-seizure operation at the house, the police discovered various drugs, including mandrax, heroin, crack cocaine and cocaine powder.
“They also found cash amounting to about R319 000,”she said.
She said Thembile Petile Radebe and Thembeni Caswell Maphumulo were arrested and questioned. According to Ramkisson-Kara the two unemployed suspects could not account for the large sum of money found at the house.
“The State therefore concluded in its papers that the money was the proceeds of crime, and should thus be forfeited,” she said.
Ramkisson-Kara said the court ruled that the money seized must be deposited into the Criminal Assets Recovery Account (Cara).
“The forfeiture order and the concurrent court case are indicative of how the different units within the NPA are working together to actively make sure that crime doesn’t pay and that criminals are brought to justice,”she said.
The criminal case returns to Regional Court 4 in the Pietermaritzburg Magistrate’s Court on Monday, July 18, 2022.