Drug smugglers are increasingly targeting South African ports for their illicit operations – using the country as an easy gateway to push cocaine and other substances to international markets.
“Members tracked a certain container to the Dube Trade Port, in which 228 blocks of cocaine were seized,” the “South Africa does have a cocaine-consuming population, but it’s relatively small compared to other drugs, such as marijuana,” Criminologist Guy Lamb told According to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime’s Global Report on Cocaine in 2023, large amounts of cocaine entered Durban Harbour from Latin America and were then transported via sea to Australia.
If the port becomes more expensive and difficult to do business with, the syndicates will move elsewhere.