MADLANGA COMMISSION | Warrant Officer Sander explains his involvement in the 1 000kg drug bust.

Added: 2026-06-03

[00:00:00]But, 297.

[00:00:05]Uh can you just tell us um start out by how you got involved in the 1,000 kg bust?

[00:00:15]>> This was weeks of work. This is what I think the commission has seen as the Errington case.

[00:00:22]This is the backbone of the Errington case.

[00:00:26]We began stopping sugar, dog food, bone food, then car parts.

[00:00:38]Um when I say car parts, um parts to build trucks.

[00:00:43]All linking back. So, the commodity changed.

[00:00:47]The intelligence at first was that it was inside sugar.

[00:00:51]All coming from South America. Then they changed from sugar to it was dog food. From dog food, it came to bone meal and bone bone marrow and frozen offal, if I can say that word.

[00:01:09]Then they changed their commodity to truck parts.

[00:01:14]How I would understand it is the the syndicate needed to move a large quantity. So, they needed a company that was moving large containers out of that port.

[00:01:23]If you understand that port in Sao Paulo, you know where that commodity comes from. There's one road that comes down from Scania, where the trucks are built.

[00:01:34]It's one road.

[00:01:36]And the syndicate owns that road.

[00:01:41]So, they needed to find something in large amounts. So, it was either bulk shipments of fruit, bulk shipments of waste.

[00:01:50]You cannot just send one container, because it must look legitimate. So, they we were intercepting um I've got the dates of the commission once it we started I've searched hundreds of containers before the seizure hundreds 10 at a time 20 at a time one at a time but at the end of the investigation a phone call was received by Mark senior then Colonel Moodley that some policemen were asking questions about some containers that had been lodged at a yard in Maiden Wolf.

[00:02:24]And we said yes at this stage we developed a relationship with Scania.

[00:02:31]And they then said hey there's policemen asking about this container do you know about it they're not from your office.

[00:02:37]We said no but we're going to go look straight away. We got there the policemen had left.

[00:02:44]The containers were in the yard.

[00:02:47]They were present.

[00:02:49]Myself and my Colonel had a look at the containers.

[00:02:52]And I can say from my experience I identified one container that set off my alarm bells if the commission wants to tell me wants me to tell you why I can tell you why.

[00:03:05]Um It's difficult to say that a container is a rip-off container. It's difficult to say that a container has got a hidden compartment. It's difficult to say that a container has got um false that's let's not go there if we can.

[00:03:26]In this case the seal looked legitimate.

[00:03:32]Let's just say that the seal the cut the container seal looked legitimate.

[00:03:39]It was part of a legitimate cargo.

[00:03:42]The giveaway was the South American customs seal.

[00:03:48]It wasn't in the sequence of what I had experienced because I've been working on this case on the type of seal.

[00:03:56]And it was different to the other four containers that I'd seized under the same shipment.

[00:04:02]That was my indicator to start with that container, and I was right.

[00:04:08]Cuz when we opened that container, the exhibits were there.

[00:04:13]>> Can we go to CJC 195? It's the first document in exhibit file one.

[00:04:37]>> Can I have it?

[00:04:48]I have it, Commissioner.

[00:04:51]>> Can you identify that for us?

[00:04:55]>> Yes, that's LCA's Depot.

[00:04:59]And the container I'm talking about is the container on the left.

[00:05:06]>> And what color?

[00:05:07]What color?

[00:05:09]>> Um UACU 562 699 and I'm I correct?

[00:05:13]Stroke four.

[00:05:15]That one, yes.

[00:05:19]>> The green one?

[00:05:20]>> Yes, ma'am.

[00:05:20]>> Okay.

[00:05:22]So, why are all the other four containers there?

[00:05:25]>> Um it is part of the same shipment.

[00:05:28]So, it's the same commodity code. It's the same shipper or it's the same consignee, and it's supposed to have the same same product going to the same place.

[00:05:39]They're also from the same origin, also from the same vessel.

[00:05:43]>> So, the information that you got was not container specific.

[00:05:47]>> No.

[00:05:49]>> Uh how often would one get information that is container specific? Give you with the with the exact container number saying that that's the container that has the drugs.

[00:06:02]>> Often.

[00:06:03]>> Okay, so it could happen. It does happen.

[00:06:05]>> Yes, it does.

[00:06:06]>> And then you would just ask for that container to be released.

[00:06:10]>> Yes.

[00:06:10]>> Okay.

[00:06:11]Um isn't there a possibility that by just asking for that container to be released other potential containers could uh slip through the cracks?

[00:06:21]>> Correct, Commissioner. Um if I use the word shotgunning So, let's just say I had 100 containers split between two vessels. So, call it 60 containers on the one vessel, 40 on the other.

[00:06:36]I then phone law enforcement. I say to them, "Go to that green container. It's going to make you look good."

[00:06:43]I go there and I leave the rest of the shipment to come through. How many tons do you think I could have pushed through the border?

[00:06:50]Unchecked cuz we too busy checking the one container. So, the idea is I can show you how we stopped we literally stopped the whole consignment. So, Scania itself was running at a loss because we kept on interdicting their containers.

[00:07:06]And we were saying to Scania, "Your risk is in Sao Paulo because it's in Sao Paulo that they're loading the cocaine.

[00:07:15]So, either you are doing it, your staff itself is loading it in the trucks, or when you release that container to the the harbor, they are doing it. You need to take it up with them. We as South Africans are going to carry on interdicting your containers. So, don't bother us. Let's rather work together and stop this drug trafficking." Which is what they did.

[00:07:35]>> So, weren't officers if you had received the information about only the green container shipment number and all of that, would you have just detained the green container or would you have pulled for these other four containers or any containers for this with the same shipper?

[00:07:53]>> I would have pulled those containers and all the other containers as well.

[00:07:58]>> But in this instance, you didn't get information about just a specific container.

[00:08:03]Correct?

[00:08:03]>> Correct.

[00:08:04]>> Okay. I'm asking in reference to the >> my correction, Commissioner. Um how I understood it, my commander received information that there were policemen asking questions about these containers. Which container it was, I wasn't sure.

[00:08:19]Um if my commander at that stage had that information, I'm sure he would give that information. But I understood that there was a the policeman interested in those containers in that yard at LCS.

[00:08:31]LCS is right next to the Cutler complex in our um restricted area in the harbor.

[00:08:36]So literally, you would have come out of the harbor, turn left, turn left, you're in LCS.

[00:08:41]>> And but so you this was the same shipper.

[00:08:46]>> Correct.

[00:08:46]>> Okay. The heroin drugs, was it also the same shipper?

[00:08:50]>> Correct.

[00:08:52]>> But that came at a later on a later date. The arrival was later or was it on the same vessel?

[00:08:58]>> Um it could have been the Polonia. Um so the the main vessels was the Colonia, the Nor- the Polonia, the Norma, the Savannah, uh the Nile Dutch breeder, um they were all MSC vessels. No disrespect to MSC because they were just a vessel.

[00:09:17]>> So it could have been so but it was but it wouldn't have been one of the containers that were identified as being uh the containers that were suspected narcotics.

[00:09:28]>> Correct. So they they they were under the impression that one of those containers had narcotics and how much, I don't know. Where it was in the container, I also do not know.

[00:09:37]>> Okay. So, in my questioning of you regarding if the information that you receive, the intel that you receive, is about a specific container, container number given one container.

[00:09:50]Are you just calling for that container or are you calling for more containers to avoid as you call the shotgun?

[00:09:58]>> I'm calling for all.

[00:10:00]>> From the same shipper?

[00:10:01]>> Same shipper.

[00:10:02]>> Okay.

[00:10:02]>> And I'll also look if they they had what they call a groupage with possibly another shipper on the same vessel loaded at the same port.

[00:10:12]>> Now, is that protocol or is that just based on experience?

[00:10:16]Are you guys taught to not be fooled by the the intel that you get that it's just one container?

[00:10:23]>> Commissioner, it's not protocol, it's experience, it's working relationship, and it's training from the necessary role players in the environment.

[00:10:32]It's learned.

[00:10:34]>> And if a warrant officer knows that, presumably a captain and a colonel should know that.

[00:10:40]>> I don't want to answer that.

[00:10:42]>> Okay, you don't have to.

[00:10:45]Please continue.

[00:10:48]>> Um >> So, you These are the the containers you identify, the green one.

[00:10:55]What do you do?

[00:10:56]>> one, um this photograph um the seal has already been removed in this image.

[00:11:00]And the custom seal was removed. It It's a blue aluminum custom seal with a stainless steel bar that goes through it.

[00:11:08]It's very unique.

[00:11:09]And that's what gave it away. But, in this in in this case here, it was the first case that I had recovered with a duplicate seal inside the container.

[00:11:19]Some of the times we'd found the rip-on-rip-offs where the packet or parts of the seal had been discarded, but we'd never recovered a complete uh duplicate seal. Um on the right-hand side of this container as open the door, um there's an image here. Um >> I think it's page four.

[00:11:38]>> Um there's an image at number two.

[00:11:42]But they're not in the correct sequence.

[00:11:43]Number four, you can actually see the duplicate seal.

[00:11:49]>> This would have been what? The the original seal or one that would be used once the container is opened?

[00:11:57]>> Commissioner, let's say that both seals aren't original.

[00:12:00]>> Okay.

[00:12:03]>> How do we know which one's original?

[00:12:04]They're that good.

[00:12:06]It locks. It It looks The numbers are correct. Everything is on it.

[00:12:11]So, if we are using yellows, they are up to date with our current risk strategies.

[00:12:19]>> Thank you.

[00:12:21]May I continue?

[00:12:22]>> Um Once I'd opened the container and seen what was inside there, um I have been briefed there's a international operation called Operation Black Bag.

[00:12:32]It is a project run by the United Nations. It's exactly that they document these bags, these travel bags. And I've done a few recoveries of these bags like this.

[00:12:43]So, my immediate suspicion was, thank you, that would be cocaine. Let me process the scene completely. I just closed the doors and then we started the process of rolling out all the necessary crime scene experts.

[00:12:57]>> And who did you call?

[00:13:00]>> First.

[00:13:01]It would have been true to our commanders. So, between myself and Colonel Moodley, we would have notified all our necessary seniors.

[00:13:09]Um we would have notified um LCRC. I believe I would have called FSL as well. Told them, "Listen, we got a large seizure." But it's just for their heads-up.

[00:13:22]And um we got stuck in and started processing the scene.

[00:13:28]>> And so, do you wait for LCRC to arrive?

[00:13:33]>> Yes, Commissioner. No, we waited for LCRC. Um we waited for um members from I think a metro street crimes unit arrived on the scene. They came to assist us and back us up. The members from ORS arrived on the scene, and they were told to stay and assist us as well.

[00:13:54]>> And how do you know before you open the container that you're dealing with a rip-on-rip-off, or when do you realize it?

[00:14:02]>> Before I open the container.

[00:14:03]Um I've told the commission my first indicator was the seal was wrong.

[00:14:08]So, if I'm looking at these containers, so my hunch is saying, "Open this one.

[00:14:13]Open this one."

[00:14:14]Um I'm not saying it's a rip-on-rip-off because it could have been in the car parts or anything.

[00:14:20]Um I don't know if I explained that earlier. It's It's only once you've opened the wrapping, do you see what's on the inside.

[00:14:28]So, this one here, the only time I knew it was a rip-on-rip-off once I'd opened it.

[00:14:33]And that's when I saw that I knew that was rip-on-rip-off. And that is correct.

[00:14:36]That is the procedure where they put them in the bags. They break the seal.

[00:14:40]They take all that out. They put that seal back on to look like the container hasn't been tampered with, and they remove the narcotics.

[00:14:49]>> Okay.

[00:14:51]Um if we can then go to um page 313 of that same exhibit bundle.

[00:15:07]This is the LCRC photo album.

[00:15:12]Just let me know when you're there.

[00:15:17]>> I'm here, Commissioner.

[00:15:20]>> So, that's the duplicate seal that we see there.

[00:15:23]>> Sorry, it actually starts earlier, Commissioner.

[00:15:25]>> Okay, do you want to show us something earlier?

[00:15:29]>> Um it's So, the the the the Madam Commissioner asked me earlier about the working environment. Here in photo one, page 309, here you can see a straddle carrier working while we were there.

[00:15:50]So, you can see it's a working environment. It's a working space.

[00:15:53]Uh it's again repeated in photo two.

[00:15:57]Then in photo five, the door is open, you can see the cab from the Scania truck.

[00:16:07]>> And who's present when you open the container?

[00:16:10]>> Um it would have been the security manager from LCS. It would have been the shipping agent as well, uh my colonel, myself, um and then from this process on, LCRC was present the whole time as well.

[00:16:26]>> And what authority do you have to open the container? What do you need and what did you have?

[00:16:30]>> and Drug Trafficking Act, Commissioner.

[00:16:32]>> Okay, was there any permission that you required from anyone?

[00:16:37]>> No, and and they had also they they had our working relationship and they consented to our searching their containers as well. The other thing is we weren't going to incur them any cost by moving that container to one of our facilities to unpack it.

[00:16:50]The other thing is when you're dealing with these cabs, they cost a fortune. If you move them, you dent them, they they run at a loss. So, we try and work together so we don't damage their property as well.

[00:17:01]So, they say, "Guys, here you go. Tell us what you need. We make space available."

[00:17:07]>> And by they, you mean Scania? Who are you talking about?

[00:17:10]>> LCS.

[00:17:11]>> Okay.

[00:17:15]Um but it is a Scania Scania container.

[00:17:21]>> The product inside the container belongs to Scania.

[00:17:26]The containers themselves belong to other people.

[00:17:30]The yard belongs to LCS.

[00:17:35]>> Okay, so in this instance I'm just trying to establish whose uh whose permission do you need in order to open the container? Who must be present when you open the container?

[00:17:49]>> Technically, I wouldn't have to have permission to open that container. But we're being polite and we ask permission.

[00:17:55]They had also raised the concern that there was irregular questions asked about that container. So they said to us we can go ahead and search that container.

[00:18:04]So in terms of the Drugs and Drug Trafficking Act, I had permit I had the authority to search that container. But I also had their full consent to search that container.

[00:18:14]Because if they didn't want any drugs inside that container because of the rip-on rip-on happened and they damaged those trucks, they would have been liable.

[00:18:23]>> And is that consent given in writing? Or is it verbal?

[00:18:27]>> Um, I I'm not sure if it was filed in the inquiry, but there there is statements from the the LCS owners on board cuz they also gave us all their surveillance footage and everything on board when the trucks came in, how they were moved, how the policeman came to ask. We had that digitally as well.

[00:18:44]>> Okay, then if I could ask you to explain the photograph at 314.

[00:18:55]>> 314 is a seal, uh duplicate to the main seal on the door.

[00:19:03]>> And is this the same seal that we see in picture 31313?

[00:19:13]>> Uh yes, it is, Commissioner.

[00:19:15]It's just the the lighting in the print.

[00:19:17]>> Okay.

[00:19:21]And at 315, it's taken out of the packaging.

[00:19:25]>> So, just just to go to the photograph on on 314, you'll see the seal is taken out of a packet.

[00:19:32]But, you'll see it's been swapped for DNA.

[00:19:35]>> [clears throat] >> I want you to know who put that seal inside that container.

[00:19:45]>> You know that that it has been swapped for DNA because of that bag.

[00:19:50]>> Um yes, and the and the crime scene experts always put the bag so you can get the bag number to reference to your crime scene.

[00:19:56]>> Okay.

[00:19:57]>> That's how. And then, it'll be it'll be on the record as well, Commissioner.

[00:20:03]>> Okay.

[00:20:06]So, just as 315, the seal is then removed from the packaging. Was it removed by your team at 315?

[00:20:17]>> Uh I removed it because I was a crime scene manager. I was handling that exhibit, and I packaged it in an exhibit bag as an exhibit.

[00:20:32]>> I think then if we can go to 319, you mentioned um the unwrapping. Where When does this also happen at the scene?

[00:20:42]>> Correct, Commissioner.

[00:20:44]>> Just explain to me why you do this at the scene at photo 19.

[00:20:51]>> There was a lot of bags. Um I stand corrected on the amount. So, what I needed to do was show how the each bag was packed differently.

[00:21:01]So, to me, it's different people packing bags.

[00:21:05]I I to see is it one person I don't put them all in a pile and then just sort them into it because if there was a question as I raised earlier, what if there was an untoward substance? I want to know which bag it came from.

[00:21:17]At what stage of the investigation and where it was found in the container.

[00:21:21]So, it's a methodical process of each bag got processed one at a time.

[00:21:28]>> And when do you do the presumptive test?

[00:21:32]>> I think I took a random one. It was it Sorry, commissioner. It's it's it's like a a celebratory thing. Okay, which one we going to do? Okay, go for that one there. Go it I make a small hole.

[00:21:45]Uh I do a nick test. It's a presumptive test. I know how to do it.

[00:21:50]Take a tiny bit of powder, put it in the the item, crack the skin, change color, celebrate. We know we positive.

[00:21:57]It's still suspected cocaine though. The lab must still give me the indefinite on that.

[00:22:03]>> And the presumptive test, is it a kit that is given that you have at the office that you take with you to the scene? What is it? What are we talking about?

[00:22:11]>> no, commissioner. That's one of the other tools. Um as explained earlier, self-obtained.

[00:22:17]>> You buy it at your own cost.

[00:22:19]>> Um I believe these were obtained during some of the training interventions that I I attended and um the facilitators would then give us whatever they had to use.

[00:22:31]>> And on page 320 Oh, sorry.

[00:22:35]>> Just so you understand it. So, ordinarily this is not supplied. The kit is not supplied by the SAPS.

[00:22:42]So, in the normal course, a if you're doing a bust like that, you're at a scene like that and you don't have the kit, which ordinarily people wouldn't have unless like you they they somehow have procured them, you would do what? You'd simply seal the whatever you're finding in the bag and then and tie in whatever record and then take it to storage, hopefully straight to FSL. Is that how it would play out? Until it is tested.

[00:23:14]>> Actually, Commissioner, that's a that's a I like that question. Thank you. Um Let's say I didn't have a suspect, I mean a a nick test, a presumptive test.

[00:23:26]In this case, I use a wipe. Um I don't know if they we used a sachet test, but that was a cocaine wipe. Um you just wipe it and the whole thing changes color. It's phenomenal, but it does stink and burn your hand a little bit, so you must use gloves.

[00:23:40]>> H320, there's something Is that what you do, people? Yes.

[00:23:43]>> Yes.

[00:23:43]>> So, there all I've done is I've just lifted the top and exposed get to it, take a small.

[00:23:50]Commissioner, with these bags being sealed like this, the other indicator I could have used here was a dog.

[00:23:57]A trained narcotics canine.

[00:24:00]I mentioned in the Mandrax we used the SARS dog, uh Tequila.

[00:24:06]The same would have applied. A dog would have reacted to this.

[00:24:10]And then the other thing is it's my environment.

[00:24:14]I should be sensitized to what the current trends are.

[00:24:18]Um it's supposed to be my field of, let's say the word expertise.

[00:24:23]Um I'm supposed to be a subject matter expert. So, if I see it, it's the duck story, Commissioner. If it looks like a duck, quacks like a duck, walks like a duck, it's a duck.

[00:24:35]But unless you pull the feathers off, it's not a duck.

[00:24:39]So, in this case, it did everything until the lab tells me and they pull the feathers off, it's a duck.

[00:24:46]So, I still say it's suspected cocaine.

[00:24:50]But um in this case, the what would the normal policeman do? One, if he's not qualified, call someone that is qualified. In the olden days sun up was called out to the scene. They were qualified.

[00:25:02]Um, if I didn't have a nick test, hey guys, call a drug dog, let the drug dog run. The drug dog would sit, that's an indicator, bark or whatever it did.

[00:25:10]That's an indicator.

[00:25:12]Um, there used to be uh electronic devices, sniffer devices, but I'm aware that they don't exist anymore or not not able to be used cuz that device would have been able to touch it and give me an an indicator. Remember, it's not an analysis, it's an indication that it is what it is.

[00:25:34]So, commissioner, that is where we are.

[00:25:35]But as a normal policeman, he wouldn't have got to where I was.

[00:25:43]>> Thank you. Uh normal ordinary policeman, do they know or would they know from training or whatever that if they happen upon a narcotics scene such as you did, they would have to they should or they must call the dog unit or get a sniffer dog. Is there anything that guides that police officer?

[00:26:14]>> Commissioner, I have sight of the the basic narcotics identification program, which is presented to the student constables, and then there is the basic narcotics identification course, and then the courses go up from that. I have sight of it. And as commissioner has asked now, the guidelines on handling and touching those substances are taught to the students.

[00:26:38]Don't touch it, it does this, it reacts with you like this, these are uppers, these are downers, um and the hazards that this stuff go with them. But the the the crime scene investigation techniques that go with them and the type of scenes and the packaging of those exhibits is taught to the South African police.

[00:26:57]And that is current.

[00:27:00]>> My specific question, that would include that you get you get a sniffer dog. I I I ask because we've had evidence where police officers with no experience in drug busts have looked and said, "Yes, this this this is cocaine." And they moved on. And basically, they handled uh the the suspect goods. So, my question has that kind of history to it. That that police officer knew or knows as part of training, that ordinary police officer knows as part of training that I've happened upon a narcotics scene, I must get canine to come including together with the other things that you list as saying they are in the in the manual.

[00:27:45]One of them is they know that I have to get a dog to come in and sniff and confirm it is what it is before I before I move the stuff.

[00:27:56]>> It's advisable, Commissioner.

[00:27:57]>> Mhm.

[00:28:00]>> I I I still do it. And even with, let's just say my work experience, >> [clears throat] >> I will still call a colleague. Hey guys, I need a dog. The police guys will tell me, "Hey, we don't have a dog. They're too old or they don't they can't come up. They can't get there." I will then find people that have accredited dogs privately. "Please bring your dog." They come. They give me a statement. It's videoed. The dog reacts. Uh Manichand is an example.

[00:28:27]Uh good colleague of mine brought his dog there.

[00:28:30]Um he was a um he works for security company, and his dog reacted at every single bag. So, it can be done.

[00:28:41]>> I guess what I'm trying to say I'm asking a different question.

[00:28:44]Um and my question is really more to understand the training aspects uh or prescripts, if you like, that if if a if a police officer who doesn't have your experience happens upon a drug uh or a narcotics scene, um, are they in breach of their training or a prescript, if at all, uh if they just proceed to handle this without, for example, uh having a test or calling FSALSC or even a dog to come search and confirm that these are narcotics. I'm I'm asking the kind of question whether out of training, would you expect or sh- must a police officer do that?

[00:29:39]>> Commissioner, with your leave, I'd like to add one word to your your question. Would the lack of training result in that answer?

[00:29:50]Or the non-exposure to continuous training in that field, I believe is going to give you your answer.

[00:29:57]Um,