R6.7m bust at OR Tambo airport
Two woman, checking in for a flight to Dubai from Johannesburg were arrested for carrying just under R7 million in undeclared currency.
30 January 2018 | Africa
A woman, one of two people caught with about R6.7 million of undeclared currency at OR Tambo International Airport last week, appeared in the Johannesburg Commercial Crimes Court yesterday.
She was nabbed when the cash was seized in her baggage checked in for a flight from Johannesburg to Dubai. According to the SA Revenue Service, whose customs officials made the bust, two passengers were travelling to Dubai when they were intercepted as they were about to board the plane on Thursday.
Numerous brown envelopes stuffed with a total of US$568 480 in various denominations, were found in between clothing items.
Hawks spokesperson Brigadier Hangwani Mulaudzi, however, could only confirm the court appearance of one of the suspects.
According to SARS, the case was “very sensitive” and the interception was part of ongoing, “wider investigations” into a syndicate.
The money was seized in baggage checked-in for a flight from Johannesburg to Dubai.
“Customs Officials at OR Tambo International Airport intercepted two passengers travelling to Dubai as they were about to board their flight [on Thursday],” the SA Revenue Service's acting spokesperson Sicelo Mkosi said in a statement.
The passengers were taken to the police station and a criminal case has been opened.
Mkosi said further details about the passengers could not be revealed at this stage, as the case was “very sensitive”.
Dubai is renowned for apparently being a tax haven.
The city has most recently been linked to the controversial Gupta family, and a News24 investigation in 2017 uncovered a convoluted network of shell companies that the family used to conduct business there.
NEWS24
She was nabbed when the cash was seized in her baggage checked in for a flight from Johannesburg to Dubai. According to the SA Revenue Service, whose customs officials made the bust, two passengers were travelling to Dubai when they were intercepted as they were about to board the plane on Thursday.
Numerous brown envelopes stuffed with a total of US$568 480 in various denominations, were found in between clothing items.
Hawks spokesperson Brigadier Hangwani Mulaudzi, however, could only confirm the court appearance of one of the suspects.
According to SARS, the case was “very sensitive” and the interception was part of ongoing, “wider investigations” into a syndicate.
The money was seized in baggage checked-in for a flight from Johannesburg to Dubai.
“Customs Officials at OR Tambo International Airport intercepted two passengers travelling to Dubai as they were about to board their flight [on Thursday],” the SA Revenue Service's acting spokesperson Sicelo Mkosi said in a statement.
The passengers were taken to the police station and a criminal case has been opened.
Mkosi said further details about the passengers could not be revealed at this stage, as the case was “very sensitive”.
Dubai is renowned for apparently being a tax haven.
The city has most recently been linked to the controversial Gupta family, and a News24 investigation in 2017 uncovered a convoluted network of shell companies that the family used to conduct business there.
NEWS24
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