Over 378 bricks of pure cocaine were uncovered on a ship at the Durban harbor on Friday, 24 February.
The South African Revenue Service’s (Sars) customs officers and police officials carried out the raid on the ship where the 300kg of contraband was found.
The cocaine is believed to have an estimated street value of R1.3 billion, according to eNCA.
The shipment was uncovered following a week-long intelligence-driven operation.
The Sars marine unit, Durban Operations, police Crime Intelligence, and National Detective Services boarded the ship arriving from South America.
The containers were offloaded in the Durban harbor and were then inspected.
The inspection indicated that the containers were loaded with zinc metal products and several black bags containing cocaine.
The illicit substances and cellular tracking devices were handed over to the police for further investigations.
TimesLIVE reported that Sars commissioner Edward Kieswetter praised enforcement agencies for the drug bust.
He said by working together law enforcement can crack down on narcotics entering the country.
“Watch the estimated value decrease from R1.3b to R130m then to R13m and then to R130k! I’ve seen this movie before,” SikhoPhilani said
The drugs have an estimated street value of R2.4 million, and the man was charged with dealing drugs.
Members of the Provincial Organised Crime Narcotics unit in Cape Town followed up on information related to drug trafficking, SAPS reported.
