‘I was part of SAA drug syndicate’

[Redeemed]

Security guard confesses to airline

A female security guard who searched a South African Airways crew before they jetted off to London has confessed she was part of a drug trafficking syndicate who stashed drugs on the SAA flight.




The guard confessed after the airline questioned her on Wednesday night.

She has since been arrested.

In her confession she implicated some crew members who had been arrested in London on Tuesday.

Police spokesman Senior Superintendent Tummi Golding said: “The police are questioning all the crew members, especially those who were implicated by the guard. ”

Golding said the woman would face charges of drug trafficking.



The pilot, flight and cabin crew were arrested in London after customs officers seized three bags containing 50kg of dagga and cocaine worth R2,1million.

The drugs were reportedly found in three pieces of luggage by officers of the UK Borders Agency at London’s Heathrow Airport.

The crew were detained by British customs officials and released later on Wednesday on bail without charge.

T hey will report to the British police in March.




SAA spokesman Robyn Chalmers was unable to confirm to whom the luggage belonged but said “interrogations were still continuing”.

Link

It seems the SAA crew knew exactly what was in their luggage before departure.

 

[lilGr]

lol pffft they should of kept the dagga here... its dry season

 

[Ady]

Makes one wonder how long this has been going on for and how much drugs SAA has unknowingly flown to the UK.

 

[TheHiveMind]

why were they released? im pretty sure that if I was caught trafficking drugs i would be sleeping in jail that night
I don't think that me claiming to not know about them would make any difference. When you get on a plane, you must swear that you packed the luggage yourself. terrible defense

 

[Sneeky]

consider that if people can get 50kg's of dagga and 4kg's of cocaine onto an international flight undetected, I shudder to think what else would be criminals or terrorists could get on board SAA planes?

 

[Ghazi]

why were they released? im pretty sure that if I was caught trafficking drugs i would be sleeping in jail that night
I don't think that me claiming to not know about them would make any difference. When you get on a plane, you must swear that you packed the luggage yourself. terrible defense

We would most certainly still be in the chooky if we got caught with that load.
I suspect that SAA UK management must have provided a guarantee that they'd be back for the trial, or he'd be locked up.

 

[Ghazi]

Plot thickens in SAA drug bust

Note the Nigerian connection.

Plot thickens in SAA drug bust


An SAA air stewardess accused of drug smuggling, has tried to pay her co-accused R300 000 to shut up.

Mmatshu Mothlaga (35) was arrested in Johannesburg on Thursday after the stunning arrest in London on Tuesday of the entire crew of SAA Flight 234.

British customs officials found three crew bags stuffed with 50kg of dagga and 4kg of cocaine.

On Wednesday, South African detectives arrested Pulane Hlahane (43) of Reshebile Aviation and Protection Services [sounds like a Selebi outfit], which SAA hired to check its air crew, after she confessed during questioning.

Hlahane was responsible for the screening of staff at Airways Park, SAA's operational headquarters next to OR Tambo International Airport.

On Friday the petrified pair appeared in the Kempton Park Magistrate's Court to face charges of corruption and fraud.

They covered their heads as they entered the packed court and had to be ordered to reveal themselves in the dock.

They were remanded in custody. As they were led to the cells, they covered their heads once more.

Sources in the police's organised crime unit told Pretoria News Weekend how Mothlaga tried to bribe Hlahane not to testify against her and reveal the SAA smuggling syndicate.

Crime intelligence spokesperson Superintendent Tummi Golding would neither confirm nor deny this. All she would say was that police were formulating new charges against Mothlaga.

SA and UK detectives are poised to make several simultaneous arrests this weekend - in London and Joburg. But the only surprise for current air crew staff is that the bust took so long.

Three SAA sources said security at Airport Park was "so lax it is a joke".

Yesterday they revealed how contraband from drugs to diamonds and even Persian carpets, were smuggled on board overseas flights.

"All you do is make sure that you fall in with the right circle of air crew. Once you make your intentions known someone will approach you," said one source.

"Once you are in you are made."

The foreign-run syndicates always ensure they have their own people on the ground conducting searches when the aircrew's bags containing contraband were being moved.

"And just to ensure that everything goes smoothly, you slip them a few thousand rand just to make sure that the right labels are put on the bags," one air hostess said.

Hlahane's tasks included physical ground and aviation security for the screening of staff at Airways Park.

Mothlaga, who is married to a Nigerian, was arrested on Thursday.

HM Revenue and Customs spokesperson, Bob Gaiger said: "At Heathrow Airport, the crew have to wait until all passengers have left the plane. They then go through customs security which is used specifically for crew members. And just like normal passengers, they are randomly searched."

If any of the crew are convicted in Britain, they could face life in jail for trafficking cocaine and 14 years for dagga. [in SA she'll be out on R500 bail and be free to continue here trade indefinitely]

Gaiger said he was not sure how Motlhaga, or any one else from the crew would attend two simultaneous court trials - one in SA and one in the UK.

http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=13&art_id=vn20090124144140372C791930

 

[noxibox]

[in SA she'll be out on R500 bail and be free to continue here trade indefinitely]

They have to release you on bail in the UK as well, unless they have good cause to hold you.

We would most certainly still be in the chooky if we got caught with that load.

Only if you were a serious flight risk. And you'd have to run without your passport. The only way they would allow anyone to return to their home country is if there was good reason to believe the person would return for trial.