Durban - A police investigator working at a forensics laboratory has been accused of stealing a consignment of heroin capsules after he moved them to his designated workplace safe without adhering to the applicable protocols.
Nearly 3000 of the more than 9 000 heroin capsules, which were netted during a police drug-bust in Pinetown in 2016, remain unaccounted for.
Khanyisani Mhlongo, 36, a forensic investigator based at the SAPS Forensic Science Laboratory in Amanzimtoti, told magistrate Farieda Mohamed on Wednesday that he found the drugs strewn on the floor of a laboratory at the facility.
Mahendra Naidu is the senior State prosecutor in the matter.
The bagged drug exhibits were the responsibility of another analyst, warrant officer Nobesuthu Ncoane, who had analysed the drugs and other items found at the crime scene.
Mhlongo, whose responsibility it was to also ensure the “safety, health and environmental” standards at the workplace were upheld, said he wanted to prevent Ncoane from landing in trouble with their bosses. Therefore, he did not alert his superiors about the find.
Instead, he gathered the drugs from the laboratory floor and moved them to his safe.
The next day, he then told another colleague, warrant officer Jerome Nkosi, about the find and asked him to inform Ncoane about what had transpired.
Mhlongo was subsequently arrested and charged with theft and defeating the administration of justice.
He agreed during his testimony that he could have handled the situation better.
“I knew the danger it would put Ncoane in. It could have ended her career. So I tried to protect her.
“I should have followed procedure,” Mhlongo said in hindsight.
The heroin capsules in question were allegedly found in the car that had suspected drug lord Yaganathan Pillay (Teddy Mafia) as an occupant.
Subsequent charges were dropped after allegations that the evidence was tampered with emerged.
Teddy Mafia was shot and killed in his Shallcross, Durban, home in January 2021.
His son Devendren “Bigz” Pillay was gunned down in a drive-by shooting incident, also in Shallcross, in March 2020.
Mhlongo told the court that he also attended the crime scene when the drugs were found in the car.
The matter is proceeding in court.
SUNDAY TRIBUNE