SOUTH AFRICAN PERSPECTIVE: TACKLING DRUGS AND TRANSNATIONAL ORGANISED CRIME, ESPECIALLY COCAINE TRAFFICKING

Transcription

1 SOUTH AFRICAN PERSPECTIVE: TACKLING DRUGS AND TRANSNATIONAL ORGANISED CRIME, ESPECIALLY COCAINE TRAFFICKING EU COCAINE CONFERENCE ROME, ITALY MAY 2013 Brigadier Ebrahim Kadwa Acting Head: Organised Crime Investigations Component Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation

2 SCOPE OF PRESENTATION Introduction National Development Plan Overview of South African drug scene Cocaine trafficking dynamics Cocaine case studies Transnational Organised Crime: Key trends and developments About the HAWKS Counter-measures adopted Walking the talk: Shared responsibility Proposed way forward

3 INTRODUCTION Shared responsibility is the key ingredient for tackling the global drug problem Globalisation propelling the unsavoury business of drugs and Transnational Organised Crime (TOC) Growing drug and TOC links between South Africa and the EU Region TOC poses a significant threat to SA

4 NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT PLAN: VISION FOR 2030 In 2030, people living in South Africa feel safe and have no fear of crime. They are safe at home, at school, at work and they enjoy an active community life free of fear. Women can walk freely in the streets and children can play safely outside. The police service is a well resourced professional institution staffed by highly skilled officers who value their work, serve the community, safeguard lives and property without discrimination, protect the peaceful against violence and respect the rights of all to equality and justice

5 OVERVIEW OF SOUTH AFRICAN DRUG SCENE Biggest, most dynamic and lucrative organised crime activity in South Africa Poly drug market Contemporary drug scene: Cocaine Heroin Mandrax Designer drugs (ATS) Hydroponic cannabis Drug trafficking organisations (DTO) employing well orchestrated marketing strategies to make drugs more affordable and maximise profits.

6 COCAINE TRAFFICKING DYNAMICS Brazil is the primary source Majority of human couriers arrested in / en route to South Africa found with cocaine: swallowers body packs ingenious concealments Common smuggling methods involve human couriers, air/maritime freight and fast parcels Flexibility and constant rotation of routes made possible by extensive flight networks Recruitment by deception or promises of large monetary payments Target vulnerable persons WAN are mainly behind trafficking and local distribution of cocaine

7 COCAINE TRAFFICKING FLOWS IMPACTING SOUTH AFRICA EU Region Gulf States South America SADC South Africa

8 LATEST COCAINE CONCEALMENT METHODS DETECTED AT OR TAMBO AIRPPORT NEW SHIRTS CARDBOARD SUPPORT GOLDEN RIBBONS AND SUITCASE LINING PINK THREADS

9 KNYSNA CASE STUDY Local police crime intelligence monitored Chinese OCG for possible abalone smuggling A small fishing vessel (Toledo) that was returning from the high seas was searched resulting in the seizure of 1.7 tons of cocaine Biggest cocaine seizure in our history Still speculating the origin and intended market for this seizure GPS was analysed but because it was a busy maritime route we could not pinpoint which mother ship could have offloaded this cocaine shipment Enquiries conducted on the dolphin and 949 brand to determine possible origin Several South African and Chinese citizens were arrested and convicted in South Africa Several persons of Chinese decent immediately fled to Hong Kong and other Asian countries This case study was discussed during Interpol Project White Flow to determine the whereabouts and current activities of the Chinese persons at large

10 OPERATION PHOENIX 1 TRANSNATIONAL DRUG TRAFFICKING Initial detection of cannabis and heroin in air freight made at London Heathrow Airport during 2009 Narcotics section alerted and instantly mounted investigations DTO set up operational bases in Mozambique, Holland, Dubai, Cyprus, UK, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Canada and South Africa Opened front companies e.g. courier shops, export and import, battery shops, pharmaceutical trade Exploited legitimate trade to facilitate drug shipments and laundering drug proceeds 50 million Euros worth of drugs seized

11 Unit 12 Storage Unlimited 988kg STORAGE PLACES Unit 9 Avoca Multi Park 23 / 27 Columbine Place Evilox Batteries Packaging Unit 417 Storage City Unit 343 Storage City

12 OPERATION PHOENIX 2 Controlled Delivery Dec 2010: 312 kg cocaine container concealed between Bags of Rice, additionally MX Tablets and property confiscated Simultaneous arrests in RSA (6 persons), UAE (4 persons) and the Netherlands (3 persons) The convictions of the accused in South Africa: Five of the accused were convicted and sentenced to a period of 12 years imprisonment of which half is suspended whilst the one accused was acquitted Additionally 637 Kg Cannabis Resin, 524 Kg Herbal Cannabis, Euros and firearms confiscated in Amsterdam Main Targets in Dubai arrested 12

13 CASE STUDY: VESSEL MANDY During March 2012 the Brazilian Federal Police Liaison Officers alerted our Narcotics Section of cocaine shipment that was sent to Nigeria in Maritime containers Our SAPS Liaison Officer in Lagos was tasked to broker assistance from Nigerian Authorities NDLEA searched the containers and discovered 163kg cocaine At this stage no arrests were made in Nigeria We are investigating possible links between the above case and a previous seizure of 20kg of cocaine that was discovered in a sports bag within a shipment of beef pancreas that was imported by a company in Cape Town during July The company are not suspected of any wrong doing as they are legitimate importers of beef pancreas for producing diabetic insulin In the beef pancreas container a second seal was discovered and we suspect that they had inside contacts to have removed the cocaine

14 TRANSNATIONAL ORGANISED CRIME: KEY TRENDS AND DEVELOPMENTS Organised crime development issue- socio-economic, porous borders and corruption New generation of network based Organised Crime Groups (OCG) and to a lesser extent structured groups Well entrenched domestic OCG Growing involvement of foreign OCG Highly sophisticated, well resourced and counter surveillance capabilities Exploiting legitimate sector : to facilitate trafficking of illicit goods within cover loads and for fronting purposes Justify lifestyle Laundering proceeds of illicit activities Employing specialist skills and professional services tax consultants, Vets, etc.

15 ABOUT THE HAWKS The DPCI officially established in July 2009 as a separate Directorate within the South African Police Service Primary functions are to prevent, combat and investigate national priority offences: Serious Corruption Serious Commercial Crime Serious Organised Crime Maintain national competency for Crimes Against the State (CATS) Maintain high standards in enforcing integrity management Adopt an integrated and multi-disciplinary approach

16 OPERATIONAL PRIORITIES Narcotics Illicit mining Non-ferrous metals (especially copper theft) Rhino poaching / Endangered Species Vehicles Cyber Crime (e.g. Credit card skimming) Specific Violent Crime (ATM attacks, banks) Human Trafficking / Smuggling Illicit Tobacco

17 LEGAL REFORMS LEGISLATIVE FRAMEWORK World class Prevention of Organised Crime(POCA) legislation: Criminalises Racketeering, Money Laundering and gang related activities Criminal and Civil Forfeiture Criminal Assets Recovery Account Witness Protection Programme Specific legislative provisions regulating undercover operations and traps (Section 252(A)) Financial Intelligence Centre Act to combat money laundering related activities Specialist Prosecutors dealing with Organised Crime cases

18 Taking the profit away from crime by targeting assets of DTO s and OCG s OPERATIONAL TOOLKIT Combating TOC declared operational priority value chain analyses of criminal business system Prioritising integrated intelligence led operations against high level OCG s and DTO s Intensifying frontline enforcement at airports, harbours, border posts and drug hotspots Chemical Monitoring Programme Special focus on targeting organisers behind drug couriers

19 WALKING THE TALK: SHARED RESPONSIBILITY REGIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION High premium on international cooperation Engaged in several ongoing joint operations and real time intelligence sharing with law enforcement partners Optimally utilise Interpol tools and participating in Projects White Flow Project Prism and Cohesion Taskforce initiatives Prioritise SARPCCO cross border operations Excellent support from foreign law enforcement agencies based in South Africa Expansion of our Police Liaison network to strategically cover countries / regions impacting on our drugs and TOC situation Focus on illicit markets (Producing / Consumer Countries)

20 SAPS Placement Role in International of SAPS Arena LO s through INTERPOL UNITED KINGDOM PERU BRAZI L ARGENTINA NETHERLANDS FRANCE IPSG SENEGAL NIGERIA ZAMBIA DRC ANGOLA NAMIBIA South SUDAN KENYA ZIMBABWE & RB MOZAMBIQUE SWAZILAND LESOTHO PAKISTAN THAILAND INDIA

21 PROPOSED WAY FORWARD International cooperation be conducted in the real spirit of shared responsibility Exchange of real time intelligence Joint operations targeting DTO and OCG operating between our countries Sharing of best practices Bilateral Cooperation Agreements Towards developing a new SAPS drug strategy

22 ON A JOURNEY TO A SAFER SOUTH AFRICA THANK YOU Brigadier Ebrahim Kadwa Tel: Cell: kadwae@saps.org.za