It was another busy week for anti-drugs police as three drug mules/traffickers were nabbed two days apart in SA. Members of the South African Police Service (SAPS) arrested a 42-year-old Nigerian national upon arrival at OR Tambo International Airport from São Paulo, en route to Nigeria.
The drug trafficker landed at 07am on Thursday, and was intercepted by police officers. A medical X-ray confirmed that he had ingested more than 70 drug “bullets” suspected to contain cocaine.
On Tuesday, 10 June 2025, police officers intercepted another drug trafficker shortly after she landed at 06.15am from São Paulo.
During an inspection of the 30-year-old Brazilian national’s luggage, she indicated that she had ingested more than 100 cocaine-filled “bullets”, which was later confirmed by a medical X-ray.
Three arrests in a week
Later the same day, police intercepted a 57-year-old Ethiopian national at a check-in counter before he could board a flight out of the country. A search of the suspect’s luggage uncovered over 90kg of Khat.
All the three suspects were arrested and are expected to appear in the Kempton Park Magistrate’s Court. They all face charges of drug trafficking.
“Through targeted intelligence-driven operations, SAPS has intercepted more than 23 drug traffickers at this port of entry in the past six months,” police said in a statement.
According to Statistics SA, as of the year 2022/2023, the number of drug-related crimes recorded by the South African police reached roughly 162,100 offenses, indicating an increase of about 21,800 cases from the preceding year.
In the period under review, this number reached a peak in 2017/2018, with a score of roughly 323,500 offenses.
Drug use on the increase
The proportion of South Africans consuming marijuana, cocaine and heroin has increased substantially since the early 2000s, research shows.
In 2002, fewer than 2% of people surveyed said they had taken illicit drugs in the last three months. These include marijuana, cocaine, amphetamine, inhalants, sedatives, hallucinogens and opioids. By 2017, this figure had climbed to 10%. This is according to a new study published in the International Journal of Drug Policy. It also finds that people who had recently used drugs were less likely to have tested for HIV.
Marijuana makes up the bulk of illicit drug consumption in the country. But harder substances have been on the up as well. In 2017, surveyed people who said they had recently used cocaine or crack-cocaine was 88 times higher than in 2002. There was a 161-fold increase in the percentage that said they had recently used opioids. Opioids area class of drugs which includes heroin and pain-relief medicines like codeine.
- SAnews.gov.za
