The woman was nabbed by agents at Johannesburg's OR Tambo International Airport. Acting on intelligence from the SA police, the team including the SA Revenue Service, customs, and immigration officials, were on alert for a drug mule arriving from São Paulo in Brazil.

Drug trafficking syndicates, gangs and other forms of organised crime, represent an urgent and growing challenge in SA.

The Centre of Criminology at the University of Cape Town’s Dr Simon Howell says drug trafficking syndicates, gangs and other forms of organised crime, represent an urgent and growing challenge in SA.

“Well, it (the arrest) continues to show that there are continued efforts to bring drugs into the country via our airports and other ports and it continues to show the scale at which this is occurring. This is one instance of someone being caught, but I mean there may be many instances of people not being caught. Of course, we won't know that. It's clear that SA remains an important destination for the smuggling of drugs through the ports, whether that be the ship ports or the airports or the land crossings to the country,” Howell said.

It has been reported that 10 suspected drug mulls were arrested at the same airport over the past two months, highlighting the scale of this scourge.

“We don't know what the percentage is of those who are caught versus those who are not caught, but I'm sure there are many instances where people have managed to get through. The good work that has occurred to catch the people that have been caught of course, should be commended. But you know, I mean, there are this is intelligence and there may be many instances where that intelligence has not been there. And that some people have simply walked through”.

Howell says drug mules are essential as couriers or the runners between countries, for drug syndicates.

SA is geopolitically ideally placed as an arrival port for drug smugglers, Howell says.

“If you're bringing substances in from South America then it's one way of getting substances into Europe because once they're in Africa, they can be transported up through the continent. SA is also emerging as a destination in its own right for drug consumption, depending on the substance. So it makes sense from a from a financial perspective and from an organisation and a logistics perspective to bring substances through SA or at least touch SA as they move around the world. Again, remembering that you know these organisations are international in scope and transnational”.

--ChannelAfrica--