Colonel’s Cocaine Conspiracy: Gavin Jacob’s link to Durban drug evidence disappearance

Colonel Gavin Jacob, commander of the Hawks’ Durban Serious Organised Crime Investigation Unit, conceded that he lied about exhausting all avenues for storing 541kg of cocaine worth R200 million seized at the Durban Harbour in 2021. The Madlanga Judicial Commission of Inquiry has questioned the involvement of Colonel Gavin Jacob, the Hawks’ Serious Organised Crime Investigation Unit commander in Durban, in the disappearance of cocaine and mandrax exhibits in drugs-related cases. On Friday, the commission chaired by retired Constitutional Court Justice Mbuyiseli Madlanga, heard the evidence of senior KwaZulu-Natal Hawks officerLieutenant-Colonel Kwazikwakhe Sibiya, who was testifying on his role in the seizure of 541kg of cocaine with a street valued of around R200 million from the Durban Harbour in June 2021 and later stolen in Port Shepstone a few months later.

Commissioner Advocate Sesi Baloyi SC asked Sibiya about a case in which Jacob was the arresting officer, but it later transpired that there were no further exhibits in the docket in a case of possession of cocaine and mandrax. “I’m trying to understand why this is something that (a Warrant Officer) Jooste will be charged and not, let’s say, Jacob, because he is mentioned here. On the reading of it, it seems to be an allegation is being made against Jacob that he took exhibits out and they never came back.

Can you just explain that?” Baloyi asked. In his response, Sibiya said: “I think Colonel Jacob had handed over the exhibits to Warrant Officer Jooste and then Warrant Officer Jooste was supposed to take them to FSL (Forensic Science Laboratory) and he did not take them.” He said that is why Jooste, who has since been dismissed from the SA Police Service (SAPS), had to submit a written statement indicating that he obtained the exhibits from Jacob and forwarded them to the FSL, but they were not received and the acknowledgment receipt could not be found. Baloyi further queried: “Do you know if anything in this investigation looked at the roles of the different people that are mentioned, there’s that officer whose name I’m not mentioning (Dwarika), there is Msomi, there is Jacob, mentioned more than once.

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Do you know if this investigation looked at their roles?” Sibiya said he was told that an investigation into the matter covered all the cases. Baloyi continued: “Do you know if the provincial office looked at the conduct, whether there is anything wrong in the conduct of the individuals that are mentioned here?” Sibiya responded: “If my memory serves me well, I think all the (SAPS) members that are mentioned here, some of them were just investigating this docket. The person who was mischievous here was that warrant officer.” However, he added that he did not know for a fact that the other officers have been found to be innocent.

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