Sars has intercepted consignments suspected to contain illicit drugs during a targeted Customs and Excise operation at the Port of Durban in the early hours of Saturday morning.
IN THE dead of early Saturday morning, during a highly targeted customs and excise operation, the South African Revenue Service (Sars) struck a major blow against organised crime, intercepting shipments suspected of harboring illicit drugs at the Port of Durban.
The contraband was hidden in plain sight. Following strict customs risk assessments and cargo profiling, Sars officials zeroed in on heavy duty excavation equipment imported from South America, according to a statement released on Saturday. They stopped and thoroughly examined the shipment.
The revenue service said detector dogs sniffed out the deception, alerting officers to suspicious parcels cleverly concealed within two excavators. The South African Police Service (SAPS) immediately secured the scene. Officers then extracted the parcels, which are estimated to be about 90 large bricks of pure cocaine.
The tax authorities did not wait for a lab to sound the alarm. Preliminary testing with a Sars mobile drug detection kit already indicated the substance was cocaine.
