Johannesburg,South Africa

A 21-year-old South African female was arrested in OR Tambo International Airport for drug trafficking after landing from Sao Paulo in Brazil on Sunday morning.

Police revealed that a joint operation between the South African Police Service(SAPS) and the South African Revenue Service(SARS) Customs at the OR Tambo InternationaL(ORTIA) Airport has led to the arrest of a 21-year-old South African woman for drug trafficking.

According to police,this is the eleventh drug mule to be arrested at ORTIA in a period of two months.

Police said the drug mule was profiled and intercepted as she was arriving on a flight from Sao Paulo,Brazil on Sunday morning,just before 09:00.

The police confirmed that took the drug mule to the nearest health institution for examination and discovered that she was hiding drugs in her stomach.

"She was taken to a local hospital where an X-ray confirmed that she was having foreign objects in her stomach.

She has already released a number of bullets from her body and is in police custody where police are closely monitoring the release of further drug bullets,"police added.

The National Commissioner of SAPS,General Fannie Masemola has commended the vigilance of members of SARS and SAPS at the airport.

"Our men and women in blue working closely with SARS customs and various stakeholders continue to assert the authority of the state at all our ports of entry.We appreciate the hardwork and dedication of our members and urge them to do more to squeeze the space for criminals.Drug traffickers are feeling the heat and there is nowhere to hide,"said Gen. Fannie Masemola.

Police mentioned that every week in the last month,SAPS and SARS customs,immigration and BMA at ORTIA have been intercepting drug traffickers.

Police also revealed that in past few weeks made two critical arrests for drug traffickers which were coming from Brazil too.

"On Sunday,22 September 2024,a 30-year-old Namibian drug mule was arrested after arriving from Sao Paulo.She too was taken for medical examination and released more than 60 drug bullets.She has already appeared in the Kempton Park Magistrates Ccourt on a charge of dealing in drugs.

On Friday,13 September 2024,a Nigerian drug mule was arrested after he was found in possession of cocaine that was concealed in aircraft head phones.He too had just landed from Sao Paulo.He has already appeared before the Kempton Park Magistrate's Court on a charge of dealing in drugs,"police concluded.