16.8 C
Cape Town
Sunday, June 1, 2025

R400m cocaine haul found in truck intercepted near Cape Town

Published on

A multi-disciplinary crime operation, including the Hawks, Crime Intelligence and Western Cape Traffic, has led to a massive cocaine bust, and the arrest of three alleged drug smugglers.

The men were bust on the N1 highway near Cape Town yesterday, with cocaine valued at over R400 million hidden in a truck.

The drugs was found hidden in false wooden boards at the back of the truck.

Hawks spokesperson, Zinzi Hani, says they received a tip-off about the truck, and the agencies pounced on the vehicle at the Engen Winelands filling station.

The three men, aged 39, 42, and 47, are expected to appear in the Athlone Magistrate’s Court on Monday.

The bust is one of the largest that police have made in the last year, following a R240-million bust in December, and a R500-million bust in July, both at the Durban harbour.

In the December raid, the Hawks found cocaine weighing more than 600kg on an MSC vessel that was sailing from South America to South Africa.

Containers aboard the vessel had wooden floorboards and cocaine was concealed in the consignment.

In July, almost 1 000 bricks of cocaine were seized at Durban harbour, inside a shipping container carrying truck parts that were destined for a South African truck sales company.

Liesl Smit
Liesl Smit
Liesl is the Smile 90.4FM News Manager. She has been at Smile since 2016, with nearly 20 years experience in the radio industry, including reading news, field reporting and producing. In 2008 she won the Vodacom Journalist of the Year Award, Western Cape region. liesl@smile904.fm

Latest articles

Second group of Afrikaner ‘Refugees’ quietly arrives in the U.S

The second group of Afrikaner 'refugees' have quietly made their way to the United States this week. READ: SA government slams Trump’s ‘misinformed’ refugee status...

School Placement Results: No Need to Panic, Says WCED

  The Western Cape Education Department has called on parents to remain calm, as the outcomes of Grade R, 1 & 8 applications start becoming...

Police sergeant gunned down in Vrygrond

  Western Cape police have launched a manhunt for suspects who shot and killed a police sergeant in Vrygrond on Friday morning.   The body of the...