The South African Revenue Service (Sars) this week added to the R54.3-million worth of illegal cigarettes it seized this year in two separate busts at Limpopo border posts. In the first incident‚ at Groblersbridge on Monday‚ a customs inspector’s suspicion that he had observed “a deal… being closed” between a truck driver and clearing agents turned out to be true.A Sars statement said an inspection of the truck’s container revealed that it “was bigger on the outside than on the inside”‚ and 18000 cartons of cigarettes were discovered.A driver carrying “3135 cartons of Pacific Blue cigarettes in a false compartment underneath the trailer” might have got through the Beit Bridge post on the same night were it not for the fact that the “driver did not have a temporary import permit”.It prompted a customs officer “to search the seemingly empty truck” and he found the contraband.“This is not the first time this officer’s trained eye thwarted smuggling attempts‚” Sars said.“In August 2015‚ he intercepted 14.5kg of ephedrine drugs worth R5-million‚ as well as intercepting another truck carrying illicit cigarettes in a false compartment in September 2015.”The total value of the illegal cigarettes seized in Monday night’s busts was R4.2-million‚ which adds to the R54.3-million found “so far during this financial year (between April and October 2015)”‚ Sars said...