South Africa’s Hawks seized cannabis and heroin worth $70 million (about £42 million) in Durban over the weekend of 12–13 September 2009, acting on a tip-off from British police.[1] The drugs were believed to be destined for the United Kingdom.[1][2]
Three Britons, brothers Paul and Jon Beazley and Paul Bromley, and two South Africans were charged with trafficking and due in court on 21 September.[1] The South African Cabinet welcomed the joint work between the Hawks and British agencies as the biggest drug bust in both countries, saying the suspects had been charged with drug trafficking.[2]
The trail from Heathrow to Durban
The week before, more than 150kg of heroin arriving from South Africa had been intercepted at London’s Heathrow Airport, and the Serious Organised Crime Agency found another 80kg at an address in Dartford, Kent, leading to one arrest in the UK.[1] That trail led back to a Durban warehouse holding 8,000kg of cannabis and 115kg of heroin, which the Hawks said belonged to the same syndicate as the London consignments.[1][2] The BBC’s London-side reporting put the joint haul at about £25 million: 165kg of heroin found at Heathrow, 80kg at a Kent address, and 115kg of heroin with more than 6,500kg of herbal cannabis and cannabis resin uncovered in South Africa.[3]
South African Broadcasting Corporation reporting cited by the BBC said the run began in Afghanistan, with consignments shipped to Mozambique for repackaging, then moved through Durban harbour, concealed and repackaged to be sent on to OR Tambo Airport in Johannesburg.[1] A US diplomatic cable later dated the Durban seizure to 14 September but recorded six tonnes of hashish and 116 kilograms of cocaine rather than the Hawks’ figures.[4]
