South Africa’s prominence in trafficking networks that involve drugs concealed in containers of fruit moving between countries is becoming more apparent.

Authorities in the UK say a consignment of cocaine hidden beneath oranges was imported from South Africa in November.

This emerged about a month after DM168 reported that drugs worth billions, also concealed in fruit, were sent from here to India.

These fruit-drug interceptions again highlight the crafty methods traffickers are using to push huge amounts of drugs around the world – and how South Africa is central to these networks.

Traffickers wanting to smuggle drugs in fresh produce probably find the country alluring because it is a leading exporter of fresh fruit in the southern hemisphere.

The online platform Maritime Fairtrade states that “one of the main reasons drug traffickers favour concealing their illicit cargo inside shipments of perishable goods is [that] items such as fruit and vegetables are often fast-tracked through customs checks on account of their short shelf life”.

This problem affects several countries.

At the end of November, Spain’s Civil Guard announced it had seized more than 5.5 tonnes of cocaine at the Port of Valencia in its biggest drug interception in four years.

This linked to investigations launched in 2021 into criminals using fruit and vegetable imports to disguise drug consignments.

In February this year, it was widely reported that Ahmed Aboutaleb, the mayor of Rotterdam in the Netherlands, and Bart De Wever, the mayor of Antwerp in Belgium, wanted fruit consignments moving through the ports there to be rigorously checked to try to snuff out drug trafficking.

Buying silence

Sources linked to policing in South Africa have told DM168 that increased checks would not necessarily mean less trafficking – they suspect some figures meant to ensure that cargo moves smoothly between countries collude with traffickers.

In a global crackdown last month, police in Europe targeted a syndicate linked to the Italian Mafia group ‘Ndrangheta. Thirty-one arrests were made in Italy and it emerged that corrupt dockers who worked at ports would accept 7% to 20% of the value of illegal cargo in exchange for their silence.

“Complicit port operators would arrange for the ‘contaminated’ containers to not be intercepted,” the EU’s law enforcement agency, Europol, said in a statement.

A massive cocaine haul that was found in Spain at the end of November. (Photo: Guardia Civil)

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SA’s controls

DM168 reported previously that Transnet did not have sight of what was inside containers arriving in or leaving South Africa.

The declaration of goods was done through the South African Revenue Service, which said it tried various methods to detect suspicious cargo.

In terms of perishable produce, all local exporters are meant to be registered with the Perishable Products Export Control Board (PPECB). Last week, in response to a DM168 query about drug trafficking in fresh produce, the board said: “The PPECB conducts inspections on a representative random sample of every consignment of listed agricultural produce destined for export…

“[It] then issues an export certificate for consignments that are approved for export.”

The PPECB had not been officially notified of the India and UK incidents, and said it knew about them from media reports.

“We are, however, engaging the relevant authorities to gather information that may assist with the investigation.”

Drugs found in oranges from SA by the police in the UK. (Photo: South West Regional Organised Crime Unit)

Concealed in animal feed

In last month’s interception in the UK, which was linked to South Africa, investigations that started in April culminated in the cocaine-oranges discovery.

The UK’s South West Regional Organised Crime Unit issued a statement on 24 November saying that in April a shipping container, transported from Colombia to the London Gateway Port, was delivered to a farm near Bridgwater, a town in Somerset.

The container had animal feed in it – as well as 189kg of cocaine. Investigations led to a crackdown around mid-November.

“Seven warrants were carried out at properties in West London, which led to four men being arrested and a further 49kg of cocaine being seized from a container of oranges imported from South Africa to the Port of Felixstowe [in Suffolk],” the statement said.

“One man from Southall, Ealing, has been charged with conspiring to import Class A drugs and is remanded in custody.”

The other three arrested men were released from custody. Some media in South Africa reported that the seized cocaine was worth R75-million.

A photograph of some of the intercepted oranges showed black boxes – presumably containing cocaine – with white branding saying “Jacob & Co”. Other boxes had “007” printed on them.

It was not clear where exactly in South Africa the boxes and oranges had originated from.

The South African Police Service (SAPS) did not respond to a query about this by the time of publication.

DM168 reported in October that cocaine and methamphetamine – tik – worth R4.3-billion was discovered in consignments of apples, pears and oranges imported from SA, in what became one of that country’s biggest drug busts.

A fruit importer in India was arrested and, based on media reports there, a second potential suspect, who is from India and sometimes based in Gauteng, was identified.

Indian authorities asked members of the SAPS to help them to investigate the drug-fruit consignments that landed there from this country. The SAPS agreed to assist.

‘Rogue exporters’

After the cocaine crackdown in India, South Africa’s Fresh Produce Exporters’ Forum (FPEF), which represents 95% of South Africa’s fresh fruit export volume, condemned “rogue exporters”.

In a statement, it said the implicated “export company in South Africa, based in Gauteng, is not a member of [this forum]”.

It added that South Africa had built its reputation on “reliability and the production of world-class fresh fruit that is exported to over 100 destinations around the world”.

“The FPEF assures the international trading community that through its continued vigilance, the vast majority of South African fresh fruit exporters remain qualified and trustworthy.” DM168

Local and global cocaine discoveries

• On 3 December, cocaine worth about R29.3-million was discovered on a truck with Gauteng number plates coming into South Africa from Mozambique at the Lebombo border post.
• A police statement said customs officials discovered the cocaine during an inspection. The driver managed to flee.
• At the end of November, the Hawks intercepted 8-million worth of cocaine at a warehouse in Durban.
• DM168 previously reported there was a two decades-old cocaine-smuggling channel between the Port of Durban and the Port of Santos in Brazil.
• Between 8 and 19 November, raids were carried out across Europe and the United Arab Emirates. Europol issued a statement saying 49 suspects were arrested. It said drug kingpins “considered as high-value targets” had come together to form what was known as a “supercartel”, which controlled about one-third of the cocaine trade in Europe.
• Europol’s statement added that more than 30 tonnes of drugs were seized by law enforcement. DM168

This story first appeared in our weekly Daily Maverick 168 newspaper, which is available countrywide for R25.