Joint collaboration between SA police and Ethiopian Federal Police nabs SA drug trafficker with R5.4 million of cocaine

Media Statement
South African Police Service
Office of the National Commissioner

PRETORIA - The National Commissioner of the South African Police Service (SAPS), General Fannie Masemola has commended the joint collaboration between SAPS Gauteng counter narcotics intelligence and the Ethiopian Federal Police after a female South African drug trafficker was arrested in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

A team from SAPS Gauteng counter narcotics covert intelligence flagged a 29-year-old South African woman through SAPS Interpol on suspicion that the woman was travelling to Brazil to collect drugs and fly back to SA via several countries. The woman indeed travelled to Brazil from OR Tambo International Airport during the first week of October.

According to the drug trafficker's itinerary, she was supposed to travel from Brazil via Addis Ababa via Sudan and back to South Africa.

Hot on her heels, SAPS intelligence immediately notified the Ethiopian Federal Police about her movements.

On arrival at Addis Ababa on 12 October 2024, she was flagged and her luggage was checked which confirmed that she was carrying 13kg of cocaine.

She was immediately apprehended and is expected to be charged and appear in court in Ethiopia.

General Masemola has applauded the determination and meticulous operationalisation of information by SAPS Gauteng intelligence, SA Interpol and the Ethiopian Federal Police.

"The cooperation between SAPS and the Ethiopian Federal Police must be commended. When African police organisations unite, more can and will be achieved by working together. We are stamping the authority of the state on a larger scale and sending out a clearer message that the long arm of the law will find you, no matter which route you utilise to try and traffic drugs into SA. We are intensifying our fight against transnational organised crime and the trafficking of drugs. SAPS intelligence is relentless in their pursuit to be one step ahead of criminals, this is commendable", said Gen Fannie Masemola.

Through Interpol SA, SAPS Gauteng counter narcotics covert intelligence will work closely with the Ethiopian Federal Police to investigate the masterminds behind this consignment.
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Brig Athlenda Mathe
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