The Hawks’ Serious Organised Crime Secunda team which works mainly with drug cases, apprehended a 49-year-old foreigner and seized heroin with a street value of R75m on July 16 in a multi-disciplinary operation in the Badplaas area.

It was reported that the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation’s South African Narcotic Bureau received information from Witrivier K9 on a truck that could possibly be ferrying illegal drugs.

Hawks’ Secunda SANEB, with the assistance of Elukwatini Local Criminal Record Centre, Elukwatini Fire Department and SAPS Badplaas, pulled the identified truck over and escorted it back to the police station.

The fire department assisted in opening a concealed compartment where 250 1kg heroin bricks with an estimated street value of R75 million were discovered.

“The drug bust was as a result of Trilateral Planning Cell (TPC) which is a team established by the ministries responsible for policing of the Republics of South Africa, Mozambique and Tanzania, to counter heroin trafficking through the Southern Route,” said the DPCI Head, Lieutenant General Godfrey Lebeya.

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