Multi-million rand drug and rhino horn bust at OR Tambo airport

Weekend operations at the OR Tambo International Airport resulted in a drug and rhino horn bust of over R6-million‚ Johannesburg police said.

In the first incident‚ five rhino horns bound for Hong Kong were seized‚ said Brigadier Vishnu Naidoo.

Officials found the horns after receiving a tip-off to be on the lookout for a certain bag.

"The identified bag and the owner were intercepted at the boarding gate. The passenger was escorted to the customs search area‚ where the bag was put through the scanner and images resembling rhino horns could be seen amongst the contents‚" said Naidoo.

"A physical search of the bag was conducted and five rhino horns were found wrapped in foil. The suspect was arrested‚" he added.

The horns have since been handed over to the Hawks.

On Saturday‚ a flight arriving in South Africa from Sao Paolo‚ Brazil‚ was thoroughly searched and passengers were interviewed.

In two of the toilet cubicles in the plane‚ two socks containing cocaine bullets were found.

Police could not link these drugs to any of the passengers onboard.

A Brazilian passenger on the same plane was arrested after being found with a stash of a suspicious substance in his luggage.

"A Brazilian passenger was stopped after it was discovered that he had no tags on his luggage. He was taken to the common search area where it was discovered that the bag contained black blocks.

Preliminary testing indicated that the drug is most likely cocaine. If further tests confirm this‚ the consignment could be valued at R5-million‚" said Naidoo.