The Dutch man accused of dealing in nearly half a ton of heroin worth R290-million says he is not guilty.
His lawyer‚ William Fullard‚ told TimesLIVE that although Mark Rodrigues was arrested at Witklip wine farm‚ near Villiersdorp‚ after 253 boxes of heroin were found by workers‚ he did not know who owned the drugs.
“He was arrested on the farm but we deny that he knew about the drugs or that it belonged to him‚ and because he is going to plead not guilty we are looking forward to getting a bail application out of the way‚” said Fullard.
Rodrigues appeared briefly in Caledon Magistrate’s Court on Wednesday after his arrest last week following one of the country’s largest drug busts.
He allegedly helped deliver pallets of “wine” to Witklip. Workers found boxes filled with a powdery substance among the cases of wine and called the police.
Besides his lawyer‚ no one turned up to support Rodrigues at his second court appearance despite his parents having an address in the Western Cape.
The 23-year-old faces a minimum sentence of 15 years’ imprisonment if he is convicted‚ but Fullard and the Hawks agree that whichever “entity” the drugs belong to is much larger than one man.
“I know (the Hawks) are busy following up‚ and there are other guys they are investigating‚” said the lawyer. “This thing is bigger than we think‚ in my opinion.”
On Monday‚ TimesLIVE reported that the Hawks had approached Interpol to assist with an investigation into an international syndicate.
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