Drug Cartels Target Bots Airport
Monkagedi Gaothobogwe | Monday September 19, 2016 18:00
Two days after a middle aged woman was arrested at the airport in possession of different packages of cocaine, weighing 4kg, another woman was caught again at the airport with 15kg of another habit forming drug, a controlled drug called ephedrine, whose importation into the country requires the Ministry of Health’s permit.
The two South African females who were allegedly used as conduits were detained and appeared in court on Thursday last week, according to the Botswana Police, who describe cocaine as the second most abused drugs with rock or crack cocaine as the most abused.
Hardly four months ago, an estimated P70 million worth of consignment of mandrax passed through the Botswana side of the Tlokweng border, but was intercepted on the South African side.
Cases of South African women being used to transport hard drugs are common around the world with the latest one involving the arrest of another South African woman at the Tocumen International Airport in Panama with 5,000g of cocaine worth over R4.5 million last month.
Another case was reported in March this year when another South African woman was caught at OR Tambo airport trying to smuggle R10 million worth of drugs.
And in June this year, Nigeria foiled another drug trafficking attempt by another South African woman at Lagos airport who tried to smuggle 1.210 kg of cocaine.
Since the start of 2016, as many as 12 South African women have been arrested at Hong Kong airport for drug trafficking , according to reports.
In 2011 a South African woman Janice Linden was executed in China for smuggling hard drugs, while last year Malaysia sentenced another South African man to death for smuggling hard drugs into their country.