a relentless quest to expose the
cheapest flights
in, to and from South Africa
a relentless quest to expose the
cheapest flights
in, to and from South Africa
Our flag carrier has embarassed the country again. Following hard on the heels of the SAA 234 drug bust on the 20th Jan 2009, 15 SAA crew members (3 cockpit and 12 cabin) again on SAA234 were arrested by UK Border Agency officer sin London on the 16th Feb 2009 for possession of illegal goods, after "contraband" (5kg of cocaine) was found in the crew bus at Heathrow airport. The flight landed at Heathrow at about 0700 on the 16th Feb 2009 after leaving Johannesburg on sunday evening. It has been reported that the sniffer dogs SAA intended to use after the 20 Jan drug bust, had only been used once.
On the 17th Feb 2009, the crew were released on bail with instructions to return to London Heathrow police station on the 7th April 2009.
The airline's been going through some interesting time - the Minister of Finance last week announced another R1.6bn to rescue it again (bet that SAA taxpayers didn't think they were funding ongoing drug operations!), and on the 11th Feb the Chief Executive was sent on special leave (Chris Smyth, who was apppointed Acting Chief Executive on the 16th Feb, must have had a busy first day at the office).
SAA will be running out of crew soon, if they keep getting arrested at this rate (and these mass arrests will no doubt increase tensions between the cockpit and cabin crew).
As for the Brits, they may be breathing a sigh of relief that South Africans will shortly be required to purchase visas to visit the United Kingdom.
20 Jan 2009 |
The entire crew of SAA 234 are arrested in London after the UK Border Agency discovered 50kg of dagga in 3 crew bags (a later search would reveal 4kg of cocaine). The crew are later released, and on the 23rd January 2009 Pulane Hlahane (responsible for screening SAA crew in Johannesburg) and Mmatshu Mothlaga (an SAA air hostess) appeared in Kempton Park Magistrate's Court on charges of corruption and fraud. |
10 Apr 2006 |
An SAA air hostess, Lindiwe Harriet Luthuli, is stopped by customs officials in London Heathrow's Crew Clearance Facility after arriving on SAA flight 234 from Johannesburg. Cocaine had been discovered in 2 gift bags which had been abandoned where Luthuli was seated, and on searching Luthuli's baggage dagga was found in a large cloth-wrapped package. It's understood that the entire crew were arrested and spent some 5 hours in police custody, and fingerprints were taken until Luthuli's were matched. |
7 Jul 2005 |
An SAA stewardess is arrested at Johannesburg International Airport (now called O.R. Tambo International Airport) after 4.5kg of cocaine was discovered in false compartments in her bag. The 27 year old female had arrived on a flight from Sao Paulo to Johannesburg. |
24 Jul 2002 |
An SAA pilot, Silimo Charles Sali, is arrested at Cape Town International Airport after 4.5kg of cocaine was discovered in a secret compartment in his suitcase. The 40 year old first officer's flight, SAA220 from Cape Town to London, was delayed for 2 hours. |
1 May 2000 |
SAA investigates allegations that its staff are involved in smuggling (of electronic goods), prostitution (both female and male attendants prostituting themselves while on foreign stopovers), money laundering and and bribery. Ninety staff are suspended, which an SAA official says represents only the "tip of the iceberg". |
1997 |
SAA crew are caught drug trafficking, and SAA is warned by the British Government to improve its airport security relating to drug detection, or it risks having its aircraft impounded, its licence cancelled and its aircraft banned from landing at Heathrow Airport |
Here's one for the police to investigate - one of our readers posted an entry on this site about illegal contraband being smuggled into South Africa from Pemba: "I have reason to believe that illegal smuggling of contraband produckts (sic) enter R.S.A via Pemba. All 'POL' flights are to some degree involved. Being in Pemba for seven months I've been terrorised by drug mafia. Please check cargo on airlink and LAM. I'm am (sic) watching how people gets bribed at the airport. This includes airlink personel. This is facts. Please do something".
Name |
Comment |
|---|---|
Henry Maigurira | This incident should trigger whether or not South Africa must reinvigorate capital punishment. One also wonders which geographical jurisdiction has power over such cases. |
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