CAPE TOWN - A truck owner's suspicions that his truck was being used for illicit purposes contributed to the arrest of two suspects on Friday afternoon for possession of khat and cigarette smuggling in contravention of the coronavirus (Covid-19) Disaster Management Act regulations, the South African Police Service (SAPS) in the Western Cape said.
The truck owner investigated an unscheduled stop of his truck in Arcadia Road in Joostenbergvlakte in Cape Town, and spotted three suspects in a VW Caddy offloading boxes from the truck, SAPS spokesperson Sergeant Noloyiso Rwexana said in a statement on Saturday.
"The suspects fled on foot upon his arrival. SAPS were notified and a search of the truck and the VW Caddy were conducted. This search led to the discovery of 298 bundles of khat valued at R17,880 and 32,000 packets of cigarettes valued at R1.92 million.
"The truck driver, a 36-year-old man, was arrested. While still on the scene, a 54-year-old suspect in an LDV was stopped by police, and further investigation led to his arrest, as he was implicated in the crime. Both suspects are expected to make their court appearances on Monday, " Rwexana said.
South Africa is the only country in the world to ban the sale of tobacco products during the Covid-19 pandemic, and critics of the ban have slammed government for the loss of billions of rand in tax revenue and a flourishing black market cigarette trade.
On Thursday, British American Tobacco South Africa (BATSA) said the ongoing tobacco ban was costing government R35 million in taxes daily and should be lifted immediately.
"After 118 days of lockdown, the ban on tobacco products sales has now cost over R4 billion in excise taxes alone and substantial job losses," the country's biggest cigarette manufacturer said.
The statement from BATSA followed the release of a study report by academics at the University of the Western Cape that concluded that extending the ban beyond the beginning of May, when the country's Covid-19 hard lockdown was lifted, had proven a bonanza for the black market, while delivering negligible public health benefits.
The researchers said of 23,000 people interviewed only nine percent had quit, proving that the government's stated wish to force smokers to quit to prevent them falling severely ill due to Covid-19 and overwhelming hospitals had failed.
"BATSA fully supports the unequivocal recommendation from the Research Unit on the Economics of Excisable Products (REEP) report’s authors for an immediate lifting of the tobacco products ban," the company said.
It said the report showed that 93 percent of the country's smokers were still able to purchase cigarettes, "meaning that millions of illegal transactions are taking place across the country every day".
"The market has been completely taken over by illicit cigarette suppliers at the expense of law-abiding and tax compliant manufacturers, like BATSA, and the fiscus continues to lose R35 million in taxes every single day."
Whereas the authors of the report called for government to replace the ban with a sizeable hike in taxes on tobacco products, BATSA disagreed and said this would simply play into the hands of illicit traders.
"A post-ban hike in excise tax will 'permanently' hand the majority of the cigarette market to criminals who do not contribute to this country’s fiscus."
- African News Agency (ANA)