SOUTH AFRICA: Drugs, Rhino Horn, 51 Lion Claws And 19 Lion Teeth Impounded At OR Tambo Airport

Another person was arrested at the OR Tambo International Airport after being found in possession of drugs and a variety of other illegal items were seized.

The suspect, a 38 year old woman was being monitored after intelligence was provided that she will be arriving into the country from Sao Paulo with drugs.

On arrival from Sao Paulo, the suspect was interviewed and subsequently searched at Customs.

However, all forms of physical search had proven unsuccessful until she started to show signs of discomfort.

She was immediately taken to a local hospital and x-rayed.

The x-ray revealed foreign objects in the shape of bullets.

The “bullets”, suspected to be cocaine, were retrieved and they will be sent to our Forensic Science Laboratory for analysis.

In a separate incidents, the team intercepted a parcel at O R Tambo International Airport which was en route to Nigeria.

The parcel was physically searched by Customs and it was discovered that the it contained a rhino horn, 51 lion claws and 19 lion teeth.

The parcel was handed over to Convention on International trade in Endangered Species of wild flora and fauna (CITES) for further investigations.

The team also confiscated branded alleged counterfeit goods with an estimated street value of R 2 800 000 whilst doing gate checks.

It is alleged that a truck emanating from Swissport was inspected by SAPS and SARS.

The truck had cargo of boxes carrying Nike sneakers. The driver allegedly abandoned the truck and fled on foot.

The goods, which were falsely declared as printed matter and the truck were confiscated.

These successes are a culmination of efforts that form part of the new revised strategy that has recently been implemented at the O R Tambo International Airport under the leadership of Major General Dimakatso Ndaba which involves the South African Police Service’s Crime Intelligence, Directorate for Priority Crimes Investigation, Airports Company South Africa, O R Tambo International Airport, State Security Agency and other role players.

People may call our Crime Stop number 0860010111 with such information.

Callers may remain anonymous and all information will be treated with strictest confidence.



Tourism Observer

TANZANIA: Swiss In Tanzania Questioned

Tanzania's Transport Minister Prof. Makame Mbarawa, has been challenged to provide facts over his recent outburst against the main ground handling agency at Dar es Salaam's Julius Nyerere International Airport.

Swissport, Tanzania's oldest and largest aviation ground handling agency, got into the cross hairs of the Minister when he made sweeping accusations, but failed to provide any factual evidence about alleged poor services and of blocking rival companies from doing business at the airport.

Aviation pundits attribute the Minister's lashing out at diverting attention from a fire last week at the airport's baggage storage, which prompted operations to be conducted from Terminal 1 instead of the usual Terminal 2 until the fire had been brought under control.

While no causes of the fire have been established as yet has an electrical failure not been ruled out either at this point as installations in the terminal are decades old and have not been upgraded or modernized.

The same sources also say that the airport authority has taken their eyes off the ball, i.e. is only concerned with the completion of the new terminal building and is spending less and less on the upkeep of the present international terminal. Sources in Dar es Salaam claim it is a political oversight failure on the side of the Transport Ministry, hence the attempt to divert attention to an innocent victim.

No comment was received from Swissport which, it is understood, are awaiting details of the Minister's allegation over poor services though in the meantime have clients sprung to Swissport's defense with staff of three key airlines saying they are satisfied with the performance of their handling agent in Dar es Salaam.

'That mud throwing has zero credibility and I wonder on whose behalf the Minister made these allegations. Let him provide hard evidence and not publicly condemn a listed company which has served aviation well over many years. The age of scapegoating is over and we [the aviation sector] are not happy with him at all.

Like with the guy in tourism we too have a message, do not mess with your private sector stakeholders unless you want to be challenged to resign or else the demand is made for you to be replaced' ranted a periodic contributor to this blog who is based at JNIA in Dar es Salaam.

Swissport in Tanzania has been turning profits and paying dividends for a prolonged period of time. Is a publicly listed company at the Dar es Salaam stock exchange and part of Swissport's global operations. Notably does the Government of Tanzania hold a 12 percent share in the company while Hainan Traffic Administration Holding Co. of China is listed as owning 51 percent of Swissport Tanzania Limited.

Swissport is operating at about 280 airports in 48 countries around the world and HNA Holdings, the parent corporation of Hainan Traffic Administration Holding Co. is a Fortune Global 500 company with over 75 billion US Dollars in global assets and annual revenues between 25 and 30 billion US Dollars.

TANZANIA: Swissport Gets New CEO, Mr. Mrisho Yassin

Long serving CEO Mr. Gaudence Temu, who oversaw the transition of the company into what it is today over the past 22 years, is retiring at the end of November and an internal succession was put into place.

Swissport Tanzania, a publicly quoted company at the Dar es Salaam Stock Exchange, is the largest ground handling company offering services at Tanzania's key airports.

Mr. Mrisho Yassin, until now Chief Finance Officer, was appointed by the Board of Directors to become the company's new CEO.

Swissport, inspite of growing competition, has been profitable for a number of years and has invested heavily in the recent past in new equipment and storage facilities to cater for the growing number of airlines flying into Julius Nyerere International Airport in Dar es Salaam.

All of the main international airlines are handled by Swissport while some locally incorporated airlines have been granted the status of self handling.

At JNIA is a new terminal building nearing completion, finally allowing international passenger traffic to move from the overcrowded arrival and departure facility to a state of the art terminal, allowing for further growth.