Cape Town police in collaboration with the metro police raided the Airport Industria premises on Tuesday and found a container with 16 boxes of cocaine weighing 140kg and valued at R84 million.
Bishop Lavis community policing forum (CPF) chairperson Graham Lindhorst said the multimillion-rand drug bust was “a massive blow to the underworld” in Cape Town and a joy for the forum.
This was the Western Cape police’s second major drug bust in the province this week – three days earlier, members of Operation Restore and traffic services stopped and searched a silver Jaguar at the Klawer weighbridge and found and confiscated drugs worth R3.7 million.
Lindhorst said the drug bust at the airport was the biggest in their precinct.
“We are happy that police made this discovery because it means the drugs will no longer hit the streets,” Lindhorst added.
Police spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel Malcolm Pojie said police members, with the assistance of metro police and law enforcement, pounced on the premises in Airport Industria on Tuesday.
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“A container with 16 boxes of 140 sealed bricks of cocaine with an estimated value of R84 million was discovered.”
The drugs weighed about 140kg.
Pojie said a docket was opened for further investigation and police have made no arrests yet.
What happens to drugs that get confiscated by police?
The drugs confiscated are subjected to forensic analyses and will be safeguarded and sent to the police’s forensic laboratory.
“Upon finalising court cases, a disposal order will be made by the court that the drugs be forfeited to the state. The Criminal Procedure Act determines that no one should be in possession of such substances/drugs. The drugs will therefore be disposed of through destruction,” said Pojie.
Meanwhile, Western Cape police commissioner Lieutenant General Thembisile Patekile praised all those involved in the successful collaboration to stem the spread and illegal trafficking of drugs in the province.
