Law enforcement

Mr Maphatsoe informed Mr Nku in or about May 2021 that he allegedly required assistance relating to a shipment involving drugs connected to Iby's competitor, with the intended objective of using information to enable law enforcement to intercept the consignment.

“Mr Maphatsoe informed me that I by allegedly required assistance in relation to the movement of a consignment. I was informed by Mr Maphatsoe that I by required assistance with tracking a shipment which was said to involve drugs and which was allegedly connected to Iby's competitor. As it was explained to me the intended objective was to use information relating to the shipments so that law enforcement could intercept the consignment.”

Mr. Nku pays for information sometimes to assist law enforcement, even though he is not a registered informant.

“sometimes you have to pay for it. It does happen ... you are not a registered informant ... you are prepared to pay for that information”

Mr. Nku seeks to be registered as an informant and to be paid for his information, despite not needing to be registered or paid if his intention was only to assist law enforcement.

“You want to be registered as an informant and then eventually you will be paid for it ... if your interest is to assist law enforcement, you do not need to be registered ... or paying ... but you want to be registered as an informant and get paid for it”

Mr. Nku’s interest in providing information is not solely financial gain but also includes long-term opportunities such as selling technology to law enforcement.

“For me, I view it as there had been a plethora of opportunities that would even extend to ... selling tech to our law enforcement ... help long-term”

Presentations about the case were given to different provincial heads and law enforcement, but there is suspicion that information leaked to wrong officials via those presentations.

“We did it to different provincial heads ... And your suspicion is that through those presentations word may have gotten to the wrong official to leak the information? Correct”

The rip-on-rip-off method of drug trafficking, where narcotics are concealed inside legitimate cargo consignments and containers are tampered with en route, requires infiltration by corrupt law enforcement to succeed.

“narcotics are frequently concealed in so-called legitimate cargo consignments . This concealment takes place in the country of origin where those containers are packed . ... because of the issue that these containers move a lot at sea , there is a space left between the door of the container and the body parts itself ... The Aeroton case , for example , it was a container containing body parts for Scania trucks ... this drug consignment is then placed in that cavity . Duplicate seals are then manufactured and the container is sealed again ... this container is then placed on a vessel ... Then , as was indicated , this drug syndicates then have to employ some or other person within law enforcement ... so that they can try and stop this container from going its normal route to allow them to do the other rip-off ...”

Drug trafficking at an organised crime level is facilitated by complex supply chains involving officials exploiting positions within logistics, border control, law enforcement, and commercial processes.

“The persistence of drug trafficking at an organised crime level is often facilitated by the complexity of modern supply chains and the involvement of officials who exploit positions of trust within logistics, border control, law enforcement, or commercial processes.”