COCAINE worth R2.5 million were discovered in the luggage of a passenger travelling to Lagos in Nigeria at OR Tambo International Airport on Thursday.
The bust was triggered by SARS’s scanning equipment. It identified opaque images in handbags found in the checked-in bags of the passenger.
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The man and two of his checked-in bags were intercepted and brought to Customs for a mandatory inspection for the luggage to be scanned. The passenger was then taken to the common search area where further inspection of the bags was conducted.
In one of the bags, four women’s handbags were found, each containing 11 packages wrapped in brown tape. It contained a cream-coloured powder substance weighing 8.5kg.
A drug test confirmed that the substance was cocaine.
It was the second Customs cocaine bust at the airport in a week. In both cases the illegal narcotics were identified through scanning of luggage.
“SARS will continue to increase its capacity to tackle smuggling of illegal goods and substances through our borders by means of significant investment in advanced technology,” said Sandile Memela, SARS spokesperson.
