SAA crew held at Heathrow as 50 kg of cannabis found in luggage
UK Border Agency officers arrested the entire 15-strong crew of South African Airways flight SA234 at Heathrow on 20 January 2009 after finding 50 kg of cannabis in three pieces of baggage; the crew were later released on bail.
The pilot and the entire crew of South African Airways flight SA234 from Johannesburg,
which landed at Heathrow at 8:00 am on Tuesday 20 January 2009, were arrested after UK
Border Agency officers found 50 kilos of cannabis and four kilos of cocaine in three
pieces of baggage at a crew customs clearance point.[1]HM Revenue and Customs
spokesman Bob Gaiger said the 15 crew members, including the pilot, were held in
custody and interviewed by HMRC investigators.[1]SAA confirmed all crew on the
Johannesburg-London flight were detained and said they were being questioned to
identify the owner of the bags.[1]
Follow-up
The drugs were worth an estimated £150,000, and a joint investigation by SAA aviation
security and the South African police crime intelligence unit began in Johannesburg.[1]The crew could not be linked to individual bags and were released on unconditional
bail, ordered to report back to a Heathrow police station on 23 March.[2]A security
guard working for an aviation protection firm and a cabin crew member were subsequently
arrested in Johannesburg; the guard, Pulane Hlahane, 43, confessed to helping a cabin
crew member smuggle the consignment out of the country.[2][3]
Case data
Every number and detail the sources state, with the sources that state it.
All three opened sources are Politicsweb pages, one republishing a Sapa-AFP wire; no second independent outlet was opened.
Four kilograms of cocaine were found with the cannabis, but the reports give no separate value for the cannabis share of the stated £150,000 street value.
The owner of the three bags was never publicly identified in these reports and no charges were reported.
A second, separate seizure from SAA flight SA234 on 16 February 2009 is a different event left out here.
Hampshire police seized cannabis, a mobile phone and almost £400 in cash from the passenger of a vehicle in Southampton during a stop for suspected drug-related activity, part of Operation Enduro. No weight was given for the cannabis and no arrests were reported.
A fire above a shop on Spring Bank in Hull on the morning of Saturday 7 November 2026 led emergency services to more than 500 suspected cannabis plants on two floors of the upper residential area. Humberside Police kept a scene guard at the building and said officers were still trying to identify those involved.
Gwent Police Special officers seized a quantity of cannabis during a stop search in Newport city centre. The search was carried out under Section 23 of the Misuse of Drugs Act during proactive patrols.
Police patrolling Reading on Halloween night found a cannabis grinder, fireworks and a pair of AirPods left at Rabsons Recreation Ground by a group that ran off when officers arrived. No one was detained over the grinder, and police appealed for the AirPods' owner.
