Mystery over informant's role during 750kg cocaine seizure | Madlanga Commission
The Madlanga Commission of Inquiry expressed concern over informant Tumelo Nku’s presence at the 2021 Johannesburg drug bust during testimony by Warrant Officer Marumo Magane, commander of the Crime Information Management and Analysis Centre at SAPS Zonkizwe police station.
Image: Rapula Moatshe/Independent Newspapers
The presence of informant Tumelo Nku at the crime scene involving the seizure of 750kg of bricks of cocaine worth an estimated R300 million, after he tipped off his handler traffic officer Samuel Mashaba about the July 2021 drug trafficking in a truck carrying cargo to Johannesburg, raised concerns.
Co-commissioner Advocate Sandile Khumalo SC suggested Nku may have been there to keep watch over the drugs and ascertain their final destination.
Khumalo expressed concerns while scrutinising Warrant Officer Marumo Magane's testimony at the Madlanga Commission of Inquiry on Tuesday.
Magane, commander of the Crime Information Management and Analysis Centre at SAPS Zonkizwe police station, was criticised for loading cocaine bricks onto his bakkie after the drug seizure in Aeroton.
It was alleged he intended to transport them to drug traffickers. Some of the drugs subsequently went missing after police handed them to the SAPS Forensic Science Laboratory.
Magane testified that Nku told Mashaba about the alleged drug smuggling. Mashaba then contacted Magane to assist with the bust.
The trio followed the truck, managed by Yellow Jersey Logistics, until it reached its final destination, where it delivered vehicle body parts to Scania South Africa in Aeroton, south of Johannesburg. They discovered 23 bags of cocaine inside the truck.
Magane told the commission that Nku was present at the crime scene but did not participate in removing bags from the truck.
Khumalo questioned why Mashaba did not release Nku after his tip-off was verified and the bags in the container were found.
“The question is the information has been checked out. What is the occupant (Nku) of a BMW still doing there? Why do you not excuse him? Why does he remain at the scene together with these bags while all of you are there? Was the plan that you are going to go together with him and book these drugs in his presence?" Khumalo asked.
He also asked Magane if he was exposing Nku to danger, noting that if the drugs belonged to the people at Scania, Nku was in danger being in plain sight as he parked his car next to Mashaba.
Khumalo said: "I have a worry that the presence of that person there was to look at those drugs and to see what was to happen to them. I put it no higher than that; that is a worry and a suspicion. I am not stating it as a fact. I am doing it to test your thoughts on this issue."
Magane responded that it did not cross his mind to excuse Nku from the scene.
He did not comment on the concern that Nku might have been there to keep an eye on the drugs.
Khumalo remarked that informants usually don't want to be found out.
"They don't expose themselves and show whoever the perpetrator is that I am part of this operation. That is not consistent with a behavior of an informant. An informant gives information and have nothing to do with the operation. But this one follows the police and goes to the scene of the raid and remains there until he is arrested later in the day. I find that really troubling," he said.
Khumalo again raised concerns about Nku’s BMW 7 Series parked close to the scene, saying someone could have walked to it and loaded bags of cocaine into the boot.
Magane said he knew who owned the vehicle and that the occupant wasn’t involved.
He said it would have been impossible for anyone to load bags into the car with so many people nearby, including security guards.
Justice Mbuyiseli Madlanga asked what Mashaba and Magane were doing at a drug bust when it was outside their specialty.
“Both of you know nothing at all about handling a drug bust. What on earth did you think you were doing when you started searching that truck, removing whatever it is you removed, and loading it onto your bakkie?”Madlanga asked.
Mashaba said: “In all honesty, the sole intention was to verify the information and have a successful operation. Even though neither of us had experience handling a drug bust, we sourced relevant functionaries to come and assist.”