Hawks seize 1.1 tons of hashish worth R36m at Johannesburg freight store
The Hawks, SAPS crime intelligence and customs officers seized 1.1 tons of hashish worth about R36 million from a freight storage facility in Tulisa Park, Johannesburg, on 26 May 2012 after a public tip-off and weeks of investigation. No arrests had been made, and officers also recovered a 50-year-old leopard tortoise kept with the consignment.
🇿🇦 Tulisa Park, Johannesburg, Gauteng · South Africa
Members of the Hawks, SAPS crime intelligence and customs officers from the
South African Revenue Service seized1.1 tons of narcotics, identified as
hashish with a street value of R36 million, in Tulisa Park, Johannesburg, in
the late afternoon of Saturday 26 May 2012.[1][2]
The seizure followed information from a member of the public and weeks of
investigation that identified a storage facility in southern Johannesburg run
as part of a freight service storing and dispatching consignments across the
country and overseas.[1][2]Officers found the drugs in fraudulently labelled
packs, including a popular brand of pet food as well as tobacco and coffee
packages, and said they believed the consignment was destined for the
international market.[1][2]Forensic officers tested the drugs at the scene
and the initial results indicated hashish.[1][2]
Officers also found a large tortoise kept with the consignment without food or
water, identified by the NSPCA wildlife unit as a 50-year-old female leopard
tortoise; officers named her Nonhlanhla and handed her to the unit.[1][2]No
arrests had been made, and the Hawks were still following up information.[1][2]
Case data
Every number and detail the sources state, with the sources that state it.
Free State police stopped a truck on the N1 south on 7 November 2026 and found 452 one-kilogram bales of dagga, but the driver jumped out of the moving vehicle about 100 metres from Parys police station and escaped on foot. The truck was impounded and its owner questioned; no arrest for the load had been reported.
Soldiers of 10 South African Infantry Battalion seized 78 kg of dagga valued at R473,000 during Operation CORONA patrols in the Musina area along the Limpopo River. The SANDF said the cannabis was allegedly intended to be smuggled into South Africa.
Police stopped a white Isuzu truck on the N4 near Vandyksdrift on 19 October and found 55 bags of compressed dagga weighing 1,680 kg, which they valued at R12 million. Two men who arrived in a Polo and allegedly offered the officers money were arrested with the driver.
Secunda Flying Squad officers found 103 kg of dagga worth about R800,000 in a Gauteng-registered Honda Civic stopped on the N17 near Leandra on 19 October 2026. The driver abandoned the car and fled on foot; the vehicle and the dagga were seized.
