Overview
- Hawks colonel Francois Steyn told the commission on Monday that a 2021 Aeroton haul recorded at 715.86kg later weighed 579.40kg in state storage, leaving 136.46kg of cocaine missing worth about R55 million.
- Steyn described basic evidence lapses, saying no photos captured the container seals, more than 20 drug bags fell out when the doors opened, and officers loaded bags into a black SAPS bakkie before they were sealed, numbered or counted.
- Following Tuesday’s testimony, warrant officer Marumo Magane alleged Major General Feroz Khan halted a K-9 search at the Aeroton site and disarmed traffic chief Samuel Mashaba, while Magane conceded he lacked training for such raids.
- The Aeroton case that saw four arrests at the scene was later removed from the court roll, with no further arrests reported, and IPID probes flagged several officers as two generals named in testimony now face a separate precious-metals case on R20,000 bail.
- The hearings also revisit a separate 541kg cocaine theft from a Hawks store in Port Shepstone in November 2021 and expose risks from cramped evidence storage, thin border controls and “rip-on/rip-off” smuggling that hides drugs in legitimate cargo and swaps seals.