Monday, June 26, 2017

#Workers foil drug smuggler's wily plot


Potberg said the pallets arrived at the farm in a van from Strand, and were due to be loaded into a container.
Rodrigues had left the farm when the workers raised the alarm, he said, but he was called back by the police.
"He was very nervous, he was smoking a lot of cigarettes. He wanted to make a phone call but the police took his phone away," he said.
Potberg said it was the first time workers at Witklip, which produces Eerste Hoop wines, had packed a consignment for someone else and it was the first time he had met Rodrigues or seen him on the farm.
Rodrigues was arrested with his driver and another passenger. The other two were subsequently released.
Witklip wine farm produces some of South Africa's top wines, predominantly under the Eerste Hoop label. The farm is owned by a Belgian citizen after it was sold by its South African owners seven years ago.
Eerste Hoop said in a statement: "We as a company and producer, as well as our employees, were not involved in any of the activity leading to the occurrence. We are giving our full co-operation to the investigation."
The Hawks are investigating where the heroin came from and where it was destined to go.
Hawks spokesman Captain Lloyd Ramovha confirmed yesterday that Interpol had been brought on board to investigate the role of an international syndicate.

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