Police are probing whether a bag of suspected drugs found in the sea is linked to another bag found washed up on another beach.
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Cape Town - Police are probing whether a bag of suspected drugs found in the sea off Mossel Bay two days ago is linked to a similar bag found washed up on another nearby beach days earlier.
If it is cocaine, each bag would be worth R9 million.
On Monday, provincial police commissioner Arno Lamoer said the Organised Crime Unit was investigating whether there was a connection between the two bags.
“It’s the same modus operandi,” he said.
On Christmas Day, a lifeguard spotted a bundle, a black bag attached to a rope and drum, floating at Mossel Bay’s Hartenbos beach.
A substance, believed to be cocaine contained in 25 packets, was found in the bag.
On Monday, Lamoer said a second bundle was discovered on Sunday off Pinnacle Point in Mossel Bay.
He said the bundle comprised a blue bottle attached to a togbag that was under the water.
Another 25 packets of a substance, believed to be cocaine, were in the bag.
Lamoer said the discoveries of the bags showed that criminals were using different methods to get drugs into the province and instead of transporting drugs via roads, they were turning to the sea.
He said police were “not winning the war” against drugs, but they were making an impact on the movement of drugs in the province.
Quenton Brink, Mossel Bay’s harbour master, said security measures there were fully compliant.
He said criminals were not targeting the harbour.
Cape Times