A few days ago – on or around 7 and 8 January 2024 – several media houses reported that Customs officers of the South African Revenue Service (SARS) seized drugs with a street value of R37 million at OR Tambo International Airport.
The various widespread media reports indicated that SARS officials seized 23 kilogrammes of narcotics, disguised as moulded artwork at cargo sheds at OR Tambo International Airport, destined for New Zealand.
Unfortunately, these stories were published without checking with Airports Company South Africa (ACSA) officials to verify their accuracy. As a result, ACSA can confirm that certain inaccuracies were reported as part of this coverage and would like to request that these be corrected as soon as possible and with the same prominence given to the original reports.
While SARS Customs officials may well have seized R37 million worth of drugs disguised as artwork recently, ACSA can in all confidence deny that this seizure took place at OR Tambo International Airport.
ACSA has no knowledge of the reported drug seizure, and the correct location of this incident can only be verified by SARS Custom officials.
We can confirm that the error seems to have originated from a statement issued by SARS, however, it remains the duty of journalists to check facts before publishing. ACSA will also engage with SARS directly to clarify the situation.
It is deeply disappointing and troubling that no one from the various media houses that covered the story made an effort to contact ACSA to obtain the basic facts. This, after all, should be a basic tenet of good journalism.
NB: We contacted SARS to seek clarification on the location of the incident involving the seized drugs; however, as of the time of publication, they have not responded.
