Pretoria: 06 July 2022 - A 37-year-old man has been arrested and drugs worth R12 million have been seized along the N12 in Springs, Gauteng. This follows a multidisciplinary operation led by the Trilateral Planning Cell (TPC) consisting of organized crime police officers in Mozambique, Tanzania and South Africa.
The Trilateral Planning Cell was established to counter the influx of heroin in Mozambique, South Africa and Tanzania. The TPC is represented by members of these trilateral states with a unified objective to disrupt organized crime networks operating on the maritime western coast of the Indian Ocean.
On Tuesday, 05 July 2022, the team consisting of members from the TPC including the SAPS Head Office Organized Crime Investigations Narcotics Detectives, Head Office Intelligence Collection Counter Narcotics and the K9 West Rand kept observation along this route.
The team had been following intelligence led information that the suspect had been travelling from Mozambique in a white Ford Ranger stashed with Heroine and Methamphetamine.
At about 14:30, the team spotted the vehicle and stopped it along the route. Upon conducting a stop and search operation with the assistance of the K9 Narcotics dogs, drugs sealed in plastic containers were discovered hidden in a compartment in the vehicle.
The suspect was immediately apprehended and the drugs and vehicle utilized seized.
The suspect will appear before the Springs Magistrate’s Court on Thursday, 07 July 2022 on a charge of dealing in drugs.
Members of the public are encouraged to report crime to the Crime Stop Hotline number on 0860010111 or download the MYSAPS APP on any android or Smart Phone. Information will be treated with confidentiality.