The police will arrest a ”drug kingpin” who escaped from the Johannesburg International airport at the weekend if the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) will give them his name.
”I call on the DSO [Directorate of Special Operations] to provide the South African Police Service [SAPS] with the name of the alleged ‘kingpin’ who they claim walked out of the airport with R5-million worth of drugs,” Commissioner Sean Tshabalala said on Tuesday.
”If provided with a name we will be able to establish whether in fact any such person entered the country through [airport] and if so … we have no problem with tracing the ‘kingpin’ and effecting the arrest on their behalf.”
Tshabalala was referring to an ongoing war of words between the police and the DSO — also known as the Scorpions — after two DSO operatives were arrested at the airport on Saturday for entering a restricted area without the necessary documentation.
The spokesperson for the NPA, of which the Scorpions is a part, Makhosini Nkosi said on Sunday that the two operatives were following a man believed to be a drug smuggler. He said due to the arrest, this man was allowed to get away.
In his own statement on Tuesday, Tshabalala said the two Scorpions were ”uncooperative and refused to produce proper identification when approached by police officials.
”[The airport] is a national key point and the South African Police Service has an integrated security system in place, which falls directly under my command,” he said.
”Any person or organisation desiring temporary access to … a national key point must obtain the necessary documentation.
”Any person requiring a long-term permit must submit to a battery of tests, including a polygraph.”
He said there was no law exempting anyone from carrying and presenting the necessary documentation.
”The actions of the police officials … in effecting the arrests on Saturday were proper and, in similar circumstances in future, they will act in the same manner.”
Tshabalala also denied that the charges against the two Scorpions members were withdrawn in court.
”The case was not withdrawn or struck off the roll and the prosecutor made no entry in the docket to the effect that he declined to prosecute.
”In fact, the prosecutor made no entry in the docket at all, but indicated that he needed to consult on the matter.”
The police maintained that the men committed an offence by trespassing in a restricted area.
”The SAPS is willing to supply the DSO with a copy of the National Key Points Act, the Civil Aviation Offences Act and the Civil Aviation Regulations for their perusal and future compliance.”
Tshabalala also found it ”baffling” that the Scorpions ”envisaged that they would arrest a ‘drug kingpin with R5-million worth of drugs’ without the prior knowledge and assistance of the SAPS in a restricted area of a national key point”.
He said the incident was the second with DSO operatives at the airport ”which has reached an unsatisfactory conclusion”.
In February last year a large consignment of illegal perlemoen was being monitored by the police. When it was collected from the airport, the police were prevented from making an arrest because ”it was claimed by a senior DSO operative that the consignment was part of a ‘sting operation’ controlled by the DSO.
”Despite several promises that documentary proof of the authority to conduct such an operation would be provided, the proof has never materialised.”
Tshabalala said the police remained committed to ”uncompromising security at our ports of entry” and did not consider any individual or organisation to be above the law. — Sapa