Durban - A 23-year-old man would appear at the Kempton Park Magistrate's Court on Thursday after he was arrested at OR Tambo International airport for being in possession of cocaine worth about R1.5 million.
The man was arrested on Tuesday by a multi-disciplinary task team established to fight crime at the airport, according to a statement issued by the police's national joint operational and intelligence structure on Wednesday evening.
"The suspect was arrested during a routine search by members of the multi-disciplinary narcotics' team. The suspect was stopped and his checked-in luggage searched after he disembarked a flight from Sao Paolo. The officials discovered drugs, suspected to be cocaine, in his luggage. The suspected cocaine with an estimated street value of R1 522 500 was confiscated," said the statement.
Another suspect, 24-year-old Dimitri Keller, appeared in the Kempton Park Magistrate’s Court last week Friday after he was arrested two days earlier trying to smuggle suspected drugs on board a flight to Frankfurt, according to the statement.
Keller was arrested by members of the narcotics' team following a search of his check-in luggage. Forty-five kilograms of what was suspected to be Khat, with a street value of about R900 000, was found. A case of possession and dealing in drugs was postponed to July 30 for further investigation. Keller was not granted bail and remained in custody, said the statement.
"High levels of collaboration between stakeholders at the airport have once again paid off. There have been breakthroughs made as a result of the on-going integrated multi-disciplinary proactive fight against crime at the OR Tambo International Airport, especially the proliferation of drugs coming into and through the port," said the statement.
Any information that could be useful to police in fighting crime at the airport should be relayed via Crime Stop on 0860010111. Callers could remain anonymous.