Investigators in KZN cocaine theft probe acted ‘in bad faith’: Jacob
The commander of the Hawks' Durban Serious Organised Crime Investigation Unit, Colonel Gavin Jacob, has told the Madlanga Commission that investigators into the theft of 541 kilograms of cocaine from Hawks offices in Port Shepstone acted in bad faith.
He claimed that they ignored crucial information and pursued a false narrative against officers involved in the original seizure.
Testifying before the commission on Wednesday, Jacob accused the Hawks head of serious organised crime, Major General Hendrick Flynn of misleading the commission.
"The damage that General Flynn's evidence has caused to us, innocent members, by creating this false narrative and orchestrating his investigation to suit the same, is irreparable," Jacob said in a statement submitted to the commission.
His testimony comes after several witnesses implicated him in decisions surrounding the handling, storage and delayed analysis of the drugs that were seized in June 2021 and later stolen from Hawks offices in Port Shepstone in November that year.
Jacob maintained that none of his actions amounted to criminal conduct and insisted that operational challenges, including a shortage of exhibit bags and a lack of suitable storage facilities, contributed to decisions that have since come under scrutiny.
The cocaine was discovered inside a shipping container at a depot in Isipingo after police received intelligence that narcotics had been concealed among a legitimate cargo shipment.
Jacob told the commission that when officers opened the container, they found 27 canvas bags containing suspected cocaine bricks hidden among thousands of bags of animal feed.
He said the depot was never treated as a crime scene because there was no indication that it should have been regarded as one.
"Had the CHC depot been a crime scene that warranted cordoning off or retrieving evidence from it, I would have done so immediately," he said.
Jacob described the seizure as a typical "rip-on-rip-off" operation, a method in which drugs are secretly loaded into legitimate shipping containers and later removed before the cargo reaches its intended recipient.
According to Jacob, the immediate priority was securing exhibits worth hundreds of millions of rand in a busy and exposed depot environment.
"I took the decision not to cordon off and close the depot. I did not want to prejudice the company by closing them down for the rest of the day as they were not suspects in the matter," he said.
CHALLENGES PRESERVING THE EVIDENCE
The commission heard that officers counted 541 one-kilogram bricks of suspected cocaine after transporting the drugs to Isipingo police station.
However, Jacob said officers quickly encountered a major problem.
"We did not have adequate exhibit bags for this quantity of drugs," he said.
When police requested additional exhibit bags at the station, they were informed that none of the required size were available.
Jacob testified that this prevented the exhibits from being sealed in accordance with police procedures and also complicated efforts to involve forensic experts.
"I then realised that it was futile to call LCRC out when we did not have the required exhibit bags."
He further stated that the shortage of exhibit bags was one of the reasons the drugs were not submitted to the Forensic Science Laboratory within the required seven-day period.
"The non-availability of exhibit bags was the reason these exhibits were not sealed in bags as per National Instruction 8/2017. The non-acceptance of exhibits by the FSL was the reason that they were not forwarded to the FSL within seven days."
Jacob also rejected suggestions that he deliberately arranged for the cocaine to be stored in Port Shepstone.
He testified that he explored several options for storing the drugs but encountered difficulties because police stations and forensic laboratories were already struggling to accommodate large drug exhibits from previous investigations.
After consulting senior officers, he was instructed that the cocaine should be stored at the Port Shepstone Serious Organised Crime Unit.
"I did not have any hand in the decision to store the drugs in Port Shepstone, neither did I know that the location was not suitable at the time," he said.
"I followed an instruction that I deemed lawful when allowing the drugs to be stored there."
Jacob further denied allegations that he sought to have the drugs destroyed before they were properly analysed.
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