Police are searching for the driver of a truck and its owner after several bags of cocaine with an estimated value of R29.3-million were found inside the heavy-duty vehicle.
The drug bust was made when the truck was intercepted at the Lebombo port of entry at the weekend. The driver of the truck with a Gauteng registration number declared his shipment as hair pieces when he was stopped after crossing from Mozambique.
Mpumalanga police spokesperson Brigadier Selvy Mohlala said while the officials were still searching inside the truck, the driver sneaked away under the pretense that he was going to get hold of the truck owner.
“He reportedly disappeared into thin air before officials discovered the 200kgs of suspected drugs [cocaine] hidden inside the truck,” Mohlala said.
“Both the truck and the luggage were confiscated for further investigation. No arrest has been made but police are doing their best to locate the truck driver, as well as the owner of the truck.”
Provincial police commissioner in Mpumalanga, Lieutenant-General Semakaleng Daphney Manamela, lauded the customs officials for the drug bust.
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