[DEBATE] : (Fwd) SAA flighs high to London

[Patrick Bond]

SAA drug bust 'tip of the iceberg'
Security so lax 'it is a joke'

January 24, 2009 Edition 1

Graeme Hosken, Kashiefa Ajam and Solly Maphumulo

AN SAA air stewardess accused of drug smuggling has tried to pay her 
co-accused R300 000 to shut up.

Mmatshu Mothlaga, 35, was arrested in Johannesburg on Thursday after the 
stunning arrest in London on Tuesday of the entire crew of SAA flight 234.

British customs officials found three crew bags stuffed with 50kg of 
dagga and 4kg of cocaine.

On Wednesday, South African detectives arrested Pulane Hlahane, 43, of 
Reshebile Aviation and Protection Services, which SAA hired to check its 
air crew, after she confessed during questioning.

Hlahane was responsible for the screening of staff at Airways Park, 
SAA's operational headquarters next to OR Tambo International Airport.

Yesterday the petrified pair appeared in the Kempton Park Magistrate's 
Court to face charges of corruption and fraud.

They covered their heads as they entered the packed court and had to be 
ordered to reveal themselves in the dock.

They were remanded in custody. As they were led to the cells, they 
covered their heads once more.

Sources in the police's organised crime unit said Mothlaga tried to 
bribe Hlahane not to give testimony against her and reveal the SAA 
smuggling syndicate.

Crime Intelligence spokesman Supt Tummi Golding would not confirm or 
deny this. All she would confirm was that police were formulating new 
charges against Mothlaga.

As the entire SAA crew prepares to return to a London court in March, 
this week's incident has been revealed as the tip of the iceberg.

According to at least three SAA staff who spoke on condition of 
anonymity, security at Airport Park, where air crew exit directly onto 
the apron at OR Tambo, is "so lax it is a joke".

Contraband

Yesterday they revealed how contraband from drugs to diamonds is 
regularly smuggled on board overseas flights.

"All you do is make sure that you fall in with the right circle of air 
crew. Once you make your intentions known someone will soon approach 
you," said one.

The foreign-run syndicates always ensure they have their own people on 
the ground conducting searches when the air crew's bags containing 
contraband were being moved.

"And just to ensure that everything goes smoothly you slip them a few 
thousand rands just to make sure that the right labels are put on the 
bags," the air hostess said.

HM Revenue and Customs spokesman, Bob Gaiger, said from London yesterday 
that British customs officers often busted airline crew members with 
drugs in their luggage.

"At Heathrow Airport, the crew have to wait until all passengers have 
left the plane before they can leave. They then go through customs 
security that is used specifically for crew members. And just like 
normal passengers, they are randomly searched."

Gaiger would not say whether UK officials had received a tip-off on Tuesday.

If any of the crew are convicted in Britain, they could face life in 
jail for trafficking cocaine and 14 years for dagga.

The Independent on Saturday has learned that SAA has been threatened by 
UK authorities that if its crews were found with drugs on their planes, 
the staff would be detained and their planes impounded. SAA would also 
face huge fines.

Gaiger would not confirm this.

An SAA source said: "There might be eight of the 12 air crew involved in 
smuggling drugs on a particular flight, but you would never know it and 
you definitely would not know how much was being carried across the 
skies," she said.

She said the smuggling of narcotics on airlines was a "roaring" trade 
conducted by staff from all airlines across the world with no route left 
untapped, especially the "junkie run" from Brazil to South Africa.