customs

Certain containers were identified as being prioritised for transportation by some parties, but Mr Nku invoked his right not to self-incriminate concerning how this information was acquired, and denied Customs officials were the source.

“Certain containers were identified as being prioritised for transportation ... I think that would be ... relate to me invoking my right not to self-incriminate ... Because how some of the information was acquired was not acquired in an orthodox manner ... It would not be someone from Customs ...”

The chat messages reveal coordination about timing and arrangements for moving containers, with concerns over delays and security issues, and efforts to avoid inspections by Customs.

“Alpha: 'They give us the time and we arrange everything. The other truckers are already kicking their containers.'... The other user says: 'Boss, I know the guys are delaying, but it is not that they are failing. Inside everything is well sorted out. Just a small hurdle of final gate release... Alpha: 'Mate, I really do not understand this. Why are there security issues? They take in the containers for inspection. They are Customs. This is starting not to make sense to me.'... Messages suggest the user had people assisting with the release and did not want the container subjected for inspection, which suggests it contains something illegal.”

Lt-Col Sibiya observed that there were a lot of people at the depot during the processing of the crime scene, including members from management, DPCI, Captain Duma, and O.R.S members.

“I saw O R S members. I also saw people wearing reflectors from customs ... there were a lot of people ... management of the depot ... three of us from D P C I ... Captain Duma ... O R S members”

There was confusion about the dates of the inspection activity: The person was not present on 22 June; evidence shows no agent was there that day; there was no Customs official present at the depot on 22 June; the individual says he was only there on 24 June.

“Mr Floweday was not there ... you have told us the depot, ORS, and your people, depot people, and the person that you thought was Customs, and we have cleared there was no Customs there ... this is a further statement on the first one that says I was not there on the 22nd ... He says on the 24th”

Between late July and August 2021, Colonel Jacob prepared a PowerPoint presentation on the seizure of cocaine as instructed by General Senona, including gathering statements and relevant documents.

“Between late July 2021 and August 2021, I had prepared a PowerPoint presentation on the seizure of Cocaine... as per General Senona's instruction, I cannot recall when I had sent it to him. During the course of this investigation, I had obtained and filed seven statements, together with all relevant shipping documents, email correspondence with the DPP's office, photos of the container and exhibits, as well as numerous other Customs and Transnet documents.”

Customs assistance is routinely required in drug cases especially seizures through the harbour, as Customs are custodians of key documentation and systems not accessible to police.

“because Customs, we generally, all of our drug cases, especially seizure that come through the harbour, if it is not a joint operation, we still require assistance from Customs. Remember, they are the custodians of lots of the documentation, and they are privy to systems that the police do not necessarily have access to.”

Customs Commissioner was aware of the container with narcotics, but their interest likely waned after the narcotics were discovered.

“Customs Commissioner was aware of our find at that container. I cannot say with certainty, but I would think that their interest in it had waned since we had already discovered the narcotics in it.”

The investigation diary entry by Warrant Officer Mpangase stating the seal was broken in the presence of Customs official Ntuthuko Khuwayo is wholly misleading as there was no such Customs official present.

“Warrant Officer Mpangase's entry in the investigation diary that the seal was broken in the presence of, interalia, Customs official Ntuthuko Khuwayo is wholly misleading. There was no such Customs official”

The lead investigator, Colonel Jacob, did not involve or invite any Customs official to the operation.

“And in fact it is so that you personally, as the leader of this team, did not seek to involve any Customs official or Customs, or invited them to the operation. You did not. No, I did not, Commissioner.”

There was no obligation on the police to include or call Customs officials in drug operations, and Customs was not present at the scene.

“There is no obligation on the police to include Customs on any operation, or more especially, not more especially, on a drug operation... Customs was not there, Commissioner.”

Colonel Jacob only became aware of Customs interest in the container after the operation; Customs detention notice was dated 23 June 2021, while the operation occurred on 22 June 2021.

“I think I need to point out that we only became aware of Customs interest in this container after this operation... the detention notice is dated the 23rd of June 2021. We conducted the operation on the 22nd of June 2021.”

Customs does not need to check every container that has bone meal in it; the state vet of the Department of Agriculture is responsible for checking the commodity.

“my understanding is, as much as we can say it is not a must that Customs need to check every container that has bone meal in it. It is not their duty to do that, to check every container that has bone meal in it. The detention notice, in my understanding, had very little or nothing to do with the actual commodity. The person whose duty it is to view that commodity or make sure it meets the required standards is the state vet, Department of Agriculture.”

Bone meal must be checked before entering the country; it cannot enter without checking by Customs.

“the evidence that we have received, if I understood it correctly, it is that because it is bone meal, it necessarily falls in the category of things that must be checked. They cannot come into the country without checking.”

Customs does not always coordinate or share interest with SAPS; there can be clashes between the two agencies regarding container interests.

“in not all cases that we have encountered Customs and SAPS are on the same page. To give you an example practically, it sometimes happens that it clashes, like SAPS is interested in a certain container, and then you learnt that Customs is also now interested.”

The DPCI does not have a formal memorandum of understanding or standard operating procedure for working with Border Police and Customs when conducting interdictions at the harbour or depots, relying instead on verbal agreements.

“There is nothing in place in terms of a memorandum of understanding between ourselves, Border Police, Customs... There is no formalised document that talks to how do we jointly approach these type of things. It is verbal agreements.”

Sampling on recovery scenes differs from FSL's chemical analysis labs; customs are involved in chemical sampling and detention of suspected illicit chemicals, not FSL on scenes.

“If I am dealing with illicit chemicals which I suspect to be used in the manufacture of narcotics... Customs gets involved, because Customs can take samples from containers and stuff like that, and they have a laboratory... But personally, Commissioner, I will say I have not had experience in sampling or doing that on the scene.”

Containers that have already been released and cleared by customs are no longer under ORS control and go to depots elsewhere where inspection requires liaising with the depot.

“LT-COLDUMA”

ORS inspection team is appointed to conduct inspection once container placed at depot; border security commander informed before seals broken and may be present during inspection if dual stop by customs.

“As soon as the container is placed at a depot, ORS inspection team is appointed to conduct an inspection. In the event of the information is provided by Crime Intelligence , the commander of border security will be informed to be present before any seals are broken. If there is a dual stop by customs, then they may also be present during the inspection.”

If a commodity is found to be false declaration or under declaration by customs, customs takes over; if it involves criminal cases like illicit cigarettes, drugs, counterfeit goods, police take control and DPCI must be informed for investigations.

“It is also determined that the commodity was – if it is determined that the commodity was false declaration or under declaration , then customs will take over and do the necessary. Whether there is a criminal case , for example, illicit cigarettes , drugs , counterfeit goods or precursor chemicals , the police will usually take control of the commodities. Whenever there is information of drugs , DPCI must be informed in order to take over the crime scene for investigation.”

Some containers may have passed customs and left the port; ORS does not control such containers but police can request detention and inspection anywhere.

“Some containers may have already been released by customs and may have already left the port. In this instance, ORS does not have control over those containers. However, the police can still request a detention wherever it may be and conduct an inspection of the container.”

Customs may detain and inspect containers under Customs Act without police unless drugs are detected, in which case DPCI must be called for investigation and command/control of drug seizures and forensic processing.

“Customs may detain and inspect containers in terms of the Customs Act and do not require the police unless they have detected drugs. In that instance, DPCI must be called out to conduct an investigation. In the case of drug cases, DPCI will have to command and control. These seizures, packaging and forensic processing is controlled by DPCI.”

ORS and customs have their own SOPs designed by the Union Commander in Sea Borders, always followed by Border Security; no written SOP document at office, but guided by intelligence operational processes.

“The ORS and customs have their own SOP which they follow. This SOP was designed by the Union Commander in Sea Borders and has all along been followed by Border Security through the years. There is no written SOP document available to provide in this regard at the office as we are guided by intelligence operational processes.”

Customs clearance is considered the point at which a container is regarded as cleared when it travels or lands at a port.

“I would say when it is cleared by customs.”

Customs do not divulge most of their operations or information to the police or other agencies, maintaining confidentiality.

“Customs does not divulge most of their operations. They keep it to themselves.”

Lt-Col Duma states that he would only know about a SARS detention if he is told, since customs operates independently without informing them.

“people who will have the documentation will be most probably the depot who will know that there is a SARS detention but on my side, unless I am told, I will know that there is a SARS detention because the way customs operate, they do not come to us and tell us we have stopped such a container.”

When the seal of the container was broken during the operation, there were no customs or SARS personnel present, only SAPS, DPCI, and the Depot Manager.

“In the opening of this when, in this, now we are back in this operation, when the seal is broken there was no customs or veterinarian together with your police people. They were not there. You had only your SAPS, DPCI, the Depot Manager I think you say and, ja, pretty much. There was no SARS people there or customs people.”

Lt-Col Duma states he was not informed about the stop from customs before the operation and only learned of the stop after the fact via email, on the 3rd (month not specified).

“On my side it was not brought to my attention that there was a stop from customs. It only came to me after the fact. So if there was a stop I would have expected that I will be told that there is a stop and then would then, I am sure DPCI would have waited for other counterparts to be present if there is a stop, but in this case I do not know if they were informed. On my side I was not informed of SARS detention. The email only came on the 3rd.”

Lt-Col Duma claimed no detention notice by ORS was known, only customs detention which was not brought to their attention.

“there was no detention by ORS that I know of, so the only detention that it had was customs which was not brought to our attention”

Warrant Officer Sander developed and has been involved in training the Specialized Narcotics Investigation Program since about 2000, which includes training members of SAPS, SANEB, DPCI, Customs, Organized Crime, Crime Intelligence, and FSLA members.

“For the last , yoh , I began in about 2000 , traveling around the country , training the different Narcotics units , Crime Intelligence , and Organized Crime . We began developing a training program . It is the program that I mentioned now . It is the Specialized Narcotics Investigation Program . There was a team of us , and that is what I did . It trained the DPCI , the SANEB members , the Station members , Organized Crime , Crime Intelligence , Customs . We sit in with members from FSLA as well , so it is quite a cool course .”

Customs was the original complainant in the investigation, having detained a shipment suspected to contain illicit counterfeit goods including skin lightening creams, hair products, and counterfeit sunglasses.

“Customs, in this matter, were the original complainant to myself. So Customs had detained this shipment of, it was suspected to be illicit goods. Counterfeit... It was skin lightening creams, it was hair products, it was counterfeit sunglasses. It was a whole lot of illicit and counterfeit.”

Customs found suspected Mandrax tablets in one of the unpacked boxes and became the custodian of the goods, as the scene and exhibits belong to Customs during the investigation.

“discovered that one of the boxes contained suspected Mandrax tablets. So now, because they have found it, they become the custodian because it is in a Customs area ... the scene and the exhibits belong to Customs.”

The handling over of detained goods from Customs to SARS involves a dual inspection process targeting other containers to find more illicit goods.

“But because it came from a container, SARS goes further with their investigations and then they profile which group of containers are coming in on the vessel or part of that and they detain all of those containers for inspection ... we do a dual inspection of the other containers hoping to find 10 more illicit goods.”

Profiling of containers includes checking databases for history of the shipper or past transgressions to support profiling by Customs and SARS.

“From my side, we have to rely on our databases to see if there is history with the import of the shipper or transgressions. Customs has that. I know they do have that. So that helps them with their profiling.”

To intercept drugs undetected, the drugs would have to be taken before entering CHC, possibly when offloading the vessel, during container stacking at Piers, en route to packing areas or on the road; suspects could include stevedores, transporters, Customs, and police.

“They would have taken it before it got into CHC. ... So it could have been when it came off the vessel and put into the container stack alongside Pier 1, Pier 2 or New Pier. It could have been en route from New Pier to the packing area and it could have been on the road. So again, stevedores, transporter, Customs, police.”

Corrupt officials within customs, police, SARS or similar agencies remove drug consignments from containers at bond yards through the rip-on-rip-off method and then redistribute the drugs to syndicates for further distribution.

“In the case of the illicit side and the criminal element within the law enforcement environment , they would remove at the bond yard , they would remove by ripping off this drug consignment , they would remove it and they would seal it again to say that we found nothing and they then would distribute it to the drug syndicates for further distribution .”