Five arrested for contraband cigarettes of R2.4 million

14th August, 2010

On the morning of Thursday, 12 August, members of the Cape Town K9 Unit, together with officials of the tobacco industry, responded to information and proceeded to a storage facility on the outskirts of Somerset West.

Upon their arrival at the premises, shortly after 11:00, they found four men unloading boxes from a truck which they carried into a garage. Another man was standing alongside the truck and indicated that he was only the driver thereof.

The members and officials then opened a box and established that it contained 50 cartons of contraband cigarettes. Other boxes in the garage were examined and it also contained contraband cigarettes. Numerous boxes were found inside the truck, which were covered with hundreds of plastic bags containing biscuits, which were so placed to conceal the "cargo".

The initial information was that there were also boxes of cigarettes in another garage and after enquiring from these men, they produced a key to another garage a few doors further. Similar boxes containing contraband cigarettes were also discovered in that garage.

Customs officials of the South African Revenue Service were then summoned to the scene to partake in the ensuing investigation.

In the tobacco industry, one such box is named a master case and a carton of cigarettes is referred to as a brick. So, in their terms, 321 master cases of contraband cigarettes were seized on the day. The value of this illegal cigarettes seized amounted to R2.4 million. In addition thereto, the loss in tax to the state on these cigarettes is R1.8 million.

The 43-year-old truck driver and the four men, aged 18, 21, 22 and 32 respectively, who are all from the North West, were arrested and are to appear in the Somerset West Magistrates' Court soon.

Source: Police Successes