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Three suspects are expected to appear before Kempton Park Magistrates Court after they were caught smuggling 73.5kg of gold at OR Tambo International Airport (ORTIA).
In a statement, the police spokesman, Colonel Athlenda Mathe, said that the precious metal was found in the hand luggage of the suspects in contravention of the Customs Law.
Acting on information provided by security officials at the airport after a security scanner identified irregular images, a multidisciplinary team made up of the South African Police Service (SAPS), customs officials from the Tax Service South Africa (SARS) and the Department of Health (Port Health (Port Health officials) and Department of the Interior (DHA) officials pounced on the trio at the international arrivals terminals.
Mathe said the three had just flown to South Africa from Madagascar and were en route to Dubai via Ethiopia last week when they were detained.
“After questioning the suspects and conducting further searches of their carry-on luggage, the officials discovered the gold bars and some foreign currency,” he said.
Both the gold bars and foreign currency have been seized for further investigation under the Customs and Excise Law and the Exchange Control Regulations.
The suspects have been detained and the matter has been taken up by the SAPS Organized Crime Unit for criminal investigations.
Mathe said investigations are also ongoing by the Directorate for Priority Investigation of Crimes (DPCI) with the assistance of Interpol with authorities from several countries to determine the legitimacy of the certification documents provided by the men and also to determine the country of origin where the gold is found. was mined.
Investigations will also focus on which country the gold bars were destined for.
(With input from the South African government press release)
