By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
Hawks Lieutenant-Colonel Nkoana Joseph Sebola returned to the Madlanga Commission of Inquiry to testify regarding the controversial July 2021 Aeroton drug bust in Johannesburg.
The drug bust involved a Yellow Jersey Logistics truck that arrived to deliver legitimate cargo from Durban Harbour to Scania South Africa, with bags of cocaine smuggled inside.
Sebola told the commission that investigators found evidence suggesting that the police informant, Tumelo Nku, colluded with some Scania Aeroton warehouse and Transnet employees.
The Commission is probing what now appears to be a botched drug trafficking operation involving police officials who colluded with a cartel to smuggle drugs into the country in July 2021.
It heard that among the suspected police officials involved were CIMAC commander, Marumo Magane, Gauteng Traffic chief, Samuel Mashaba, and K-9 unit officer, Steve Phakula.
The trio were acting on information received from Nku, who is said to have monitored the operation from a distance near the scene.
Sebola also told the Commission that investigators found the Scania employee believed to have been involved was in São Paulo weeks before the shipment was due to arrive in South Africa.
The police officials, along with Nku, were arrested on 9 July 2021 after a consignment with an estimated street value of R300 million was discovered at the Scania Aeroton warehouse during a search linked to the alleged trafficking operation.
The group was charged with drug dealing and defeating the ends of justice.
Sebola further said investigators found a screenshot on Nku’s cellphone indicating drug consignment was en route to Johannesburg.
He said the image suggested consignment, containing more than 700 kilograms of cocaine concealed in a shipping container, left the Port of Santos in São Paulo on 30 May 2021 and arrived at Durban Harbour on 11 June 2021.
Sebola suggested the screenshot may have originated from a Transnet official in communication with Nku.
“I can maybe explain to say that this screen shot, commissioners, indicates that it comes from the harbour itself. It’s a property of Transnet. Which means someone working at Transnet captured this screen shot and forwarded it to this person,” said Sebola.
The data provided live system updates and insights directly to an police informant. Sebola said the authoritied believe this insider information allowed the suspects to track a consignment of truck parts, which was later intercepted.
The investigation is currently re-examining evidence surrounding the bust, as officers initially on the scene failed to follow evidence protocols and attempted to drive off with the drugs.
Sebola added that investigators also uncovered screenshots exchanged between an individual known as “Alpha” and Nku, arranging for the consignment’s arrival via a vessel linked to Pier 1, with Nku suggesting diversion to Pier 2 and referring to Pier 1 as “another mission impossible.”
IPID Assistant Director of Investigations, Takalani Zelda Maphosho, who took the witness stand after Sebola concluded his testimony, said the implicated police officials also opened a case against the officials who arrested them.
Magane and Phakula accused the arresting officials of defeating the administration of justice.
Maphosho was cross-examined, where she responded to questions relating to the case opened by the implicated officials at IPID.
Meanwhile major-General Feroz Khan, a senior officer within Crime Intelligence, will testify before the commission next month after abandoning legal efforts to block both his testimony and access to his electronic devices.
Khan had approached the Gauteng High Court in Johannesburg with an interdict application on an urgent basis last week.
The devices in question were confiscated by the South African Police Service (Saps) and later handed over to the commission’s investigators.
The commission confirmed on Monday, 8 June, that the withdrawal of Khan’s applications will be formalised in a court order, clearing the way for his participation in the inquiry.
“As soon as that order has been issued, the commission will make its affidavits available to the media and to the public.”
“So as matters stand, in short, Major-General Khan is set to appear before the commission on the 1st of July, and his testimony is key to the commission’s work, given the very serious allegations which have been made against him,” the commission’s spokesperson Jeremy Michaels told the media.
The Commission has also issued a Regulation 10(6) notice authorising the South Africa Police Service (SAPS) to grant access to Khan’s devices, saying the data stored on them is critical to its ongoing investigation.