Repeated break-ins at Hawks facility before 541kg cocaine theft, commission hears

Standard procedures governing the handling, recording and transfer of seized narcotics had not been followed with regard to a 541kg cocaine consignment that was later stolen from a Hawks facility in Port Shepstone in November 2021, South African Police Service (SAPS) Major-General Hendrik Flynn told theMadlanga commissionof inquiry on Wednesday. Flynn said there had been non-compliance in the movement of exhibits from Isipingo police station to theHawks’ Serious Organised Crime Unit in Port Shepstone, as well as failures in subsequent documentation and forensic handling processes. Flynn told the commission that SAPS procedure required all seized property to be entered into the SAP-13 register at the police station where it was first booked in.

He said that must occur before exhibits were transferred to any other facility, to ensure an unbroken chain of custody. He testified that in the case under review, the exhibits had been booked in and booked out at Isipingo on 22 June 2021 and then transported to the Hawks’ premises in Port Shepstone, where they were stored in a walk-in safe. However, the SAP-13 register entry at Port Shepstone had been completed only on 24 June 2021, two days after the transfer had taken place.

Flynn told the commission that the sequence did not comply with SAPS protocol. “Commissioners, after the exhibits were booked in and booked out at Isipingo on the 22nd of June 2021, the officers took the exhibits to the serious organised crime unit in Port Shepstone, stored them there in the walk-in safe. And then only on a later date, on the 24th of June, were the exhibits entered into the SAP13 at Port Shepstone SAPS,” he said.

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He added that SAPS officials had not intended to send the seized cocaine to the Forensic Science Laboratory for analysis, despite that being a standard requirement in the evidentiary process for narcotics investigations. The proper forensic handling procedures had therefore not been followed in the matter, he said. In addition, Flynn said the handling of exhibits reflected broader non-compliance with established procedures governing seized property, including documentation and control measures intended to safeguard evidentiary integrity.

Evidence leader Sello Mahlape raised concerns over the decision to store the drugs at the Hawks’ Port Shepstone premises, despite the facility having experienced multiple break-ins. “I count seven previous break-ins at the Port Shepstone DPCI [Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation] offices from December 2011 to October 2021. Am I correct?” Mahlape asked.

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