Cape Town businessman and truck owner Ebrahim Kara, who is currently serving eight years in prison for his role in a R400 million cocaine bust, has now lost the truck he used in the crime after the Western Cape High Court granted a forfeiture order.
The court declared the R425 000 truck an “instrumentality of crime”, handing it over to the State following an application by the Hawks’ Asset Forfeiture Investigation unit in collaboration with the National Prosecuting Authority’s Asset Forfeiture Unit. The order was issued on 5 August and officially received by the Hawks on 11 August.
The forfeiture stems from an operation in August 2022, when the truck Kara supplied was spotted on the N1 highway and monitored until N1 City Mall in Cape Town. After a suspicious driver exchange, officers stopped the vehicle on Jan Smuts Drive in Pinelands, uncovering 672 bricks of cocaine worth over R403 million hidden among pine sheets.
Kara and his accomplices were arrested on the spot. He later admitted in a plea deal that he had provided the truck to transport drugs from Gauteng to Cape Town. In October 2023, he was sentenced to eight years behind bars and ordered to pay R2 million to the State.
Two of his co-accused, Meshack Mzungezi Ngobese and Elias Radebe, also reached plea deals, receiving six years and one year in prison, respectively. The cases against Ibrahim Feli and Stanley Margaman are ongoing.
The forfeiture means Kara not only lost his freedom but also his truck – the very tool that once kept his business running – now permanently seized by the State.
Hawks spokesperson Warrant Officer Zinzi Hani said the bust shows that crime does not pay. “Assets used in the commission of serious crimes will be taken away. This sends a strong message to those who think they can profit from the illicit economy,” she said.
The latest SA Trucking News straight to your inbox!
Do you have more on this story? Click to WhatsApp us. Anonymity guaranteed.
