Drug-smuggling syndicates are using technology more advanced than that available to law enforcement agencies, the Madlanga Commission heard on Tuesday.
Former Hawks South African Narcotics Enforcement Bureau (SANEB) member Karl Sander told the commission that organised criminal networks are increasingly sophisticated in tracking and protecting illicit shipments moving through South Africa’s ports.
Testifying at the Bridgette Mabandla Justice College in Pretoria, Sander said some syndicates effectively control access points at ports, allowing them to monitor movements and detect law enforcement activity.
“If your syndicate controls the access to the port, they’ve got access to drug flow in and out,” he told the commission.
Sander explained that police operations within ports are often compromised because criminal networks are able to identify officers and surveillance teams entering the facilities.
“There’s always someone there. If I, as a police officer, drive into that port, they know I’m there,” he said.
The former Hawks officer also revealed that investigators have intercepted drug shipments containing tracking devices installed by the syndicates themselves.
“We have intercepted drug shipments where we found their own transponder devices inside those bags. They themselves are tracking their shipment. If it goes off the necessary path, they know immediately,” he said.
Sander said law enforcement agencies are forced to constantly adapt their investigative methods to keep pace with increasingly sophisticated criminal organisations.
His testimony also addressed a previously failed polygraph test linked to an investigation into the theft of 541kg of cocaine from a Hawks storage facility in Port Shepstone in November 2021.
Evidence leader Advocate Lee Segeels-Ncube informed the commission that the test result had subsequently been declared invalid after an administrative review found serious errors in the examination process.
“The test was considered invalid so that the examinee was not prejudiced by the errors of the polygraph examiner,” she said.
Commission chairperson Mbuyiseli Madlanga noted that the clarification effectively exonerated Sander in relation to the polygraph findings.
The commission continues to hear evidence related to allegations of criminal infiltration, corruption and operational failures within law enforcement structures.