News / South Africa / Crime

The customs department of the South African Revenue Service (Sars) confiscated 40 million rand worth of illegal cigarettes, hookah tobacco and scrap metal.

Illegal cigarettes worth 35 million rand were found in Durban Port, and another batch of illegal cigarettes worth 3 million rand was found in Polokwane.

The Customs and Illegal Trade Department carried out operations with the support of the South African Police Service (Saps) and the Priority Crime Investigation Service (Hawks).

In Polokwane, Sarpus intercepted a truck containing cigarettes and notified SARS officials.

Officials found 276 boxes of Remington Gold cigarettes without South African diamond stamps, valued at R3 million.

Inside the truck, officials also found a batch of scrap metal with a customs value of R160,000. The truck entered the country through the Beitbridge border post. Four suspects have been arrested.

432 boxes of hookah tobacco worth R2 million were found in the deep city of Johannesburg, and it was announced that they were stored as molasses and exported to Malawi.

But intelligence shows that this kind of tobacco is for sale in the local market.

After SARS used its modern risk and targeting system to identify goods imported by repeat offenders, the illegal cigarettes in Durban Port were destroyed. These goods were incorrectly declared as ceramic cups and tape. 

The shipment included three containers, which contained 1,800 main boxes of Remington Gold cigarettes and 1,245 main boxes of foreign brands that were not registered for sale in South Africa.

Sars Commissioner Edward Kieswetter said that importers and exporters of illegal products need to know that Sars uses a modern system to conduct risk detection and identify suspicious goods.

"Using the latest technology, big data, algorithms, and machine learning to detect and prevent violations is one of our strategic goals, and it is also our mission to build an intelligent, modern Sars that is admired and trusted. We strive to achieve voluntary compliance, but Will severely deal with deliberate non-compliance and criminal activities," Keyswait said.

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