Hawks
KZN Police Commissioner General Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi has slammed the Hawks for mishandling a R200 million drug consignment stolen from their offices in 2021. Testifying in Parliament, he claimed drug cartels and police officers colluded in the theft and called it a high-level inside job within law enforcement ranks.
KZN Provincial Police Commissioner, General Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi has levelled criticism against the Directorate for Priority Investigation, known as the Hawks for its poor handling of the R200 million worth of drugs, which were stolen at the Hawks offices in 2021.
On Wednesday, Mkhwanazi returned to the Ad Hoc Committee in Parliament established to investigate Mkhwanazi's allegations, which include corruption, political interference and criminal infiltration of the justice system.
In July, more than four years after R200 million worth of drugs vanished from the Port Shepstone Serious Organised Crime offices in 2021, IOL reported that the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (DPCI), known as the Hawks was continuing with the circumstances that led to the theft, the Hawks announcing the launch of an inquiry into the theft shortly afterwards.
However, on Wednesday, Mkhwanazi laid the blame on those who were tasked with safeguarding the drug stash, which many believe it was stolen by drug syndicates implicated in the murder of popular musicians, adding that the offices were targeted by highly connected drug cartels.
"The murders of these DJs are drug related. The picture will emerge when the matters go to court that this one thought he was clever by stealing the drugs belonging to someone else. Some of the victims are not clean men when it comes to drugs.... We have a consignment of over R200 millions of drugs. The police in the organisation are supposed to identify the exhibit and book the exhibit and register it at the police station," he stated.
However, Mkhwanazi pointed that serious protocol was not observed when these drugs were moved from Pine Town to Port Shepstone, where they were stolen with the help of members of the police.
"If the consignment is too big, it must be transported to a safer storage space, which in this case, would be forensic lab. But in this case, it so happened that the province of KwaZulu Natal, had at one stage, there was a consignment found in Durban. Our laboratory in Durban, Manzimtoti, just 15 minutes from Durban, did not have a facility to keep such a big consignment. The next place where we take drugs is Pretoria. However, it so happened that the drugs were booked out at the same time and transported to Port Shepstone, and locked at the offices of DPCI, with no one guarding it. During the alleged load shedding, there was a break inside that facility, where there were bags of drugs and other dr with only this specific consignment stolen," he added.
Mkhwanazi indicated that it was strange that in this facility, which had AK47 guns, these guns and other valuables were not affected by the grand theft.
"It is surprising that the R200 million worth of drugs were not stolen. You arrive at the crime scene, you expect that the crime scene has been cleaned, but you find an AK47 standing there and you say to yourself, but why did they not steal this AK47 you then realise the mission was not the AK47," he added.
Responding to the infamous break-in, Brigadier Nomthandazo Mbambo, national spokesperson for DPCI revealed that the theft happened between 4 pm and 7 am, after which a case of business burglary having been registered for further investigation.
“The suspects gained entry into the building by forcing open the windows. One of the safes in the office, which was used to store exhibits, was tampered with. The suspects stole 541kg of cocaine drugs to the street value of R200 000 000 and ransacked the office where safes were kept,” she said.
