Over roughly two months, South African police have seized more than R360-million worth of cocaine that arrived in this country from Brazil. Daily Maverick previously reported that a trafficking conduit between Brazil and Durban has been used for more than two decades.

In what has become a repeat scenario, another multimillion-rand cocaine consignment, that was smuggled to South Africa from Brazil, has been intercepted at Durban harbour.

National South African Police Service (SAPS) spokesperson Brigadier Athlenda Mathe said the cocaine, worth R151-million, was seized on Monday, 4 December.

[DURBAN HARBOUR DRUG BUST] Police have seized R151 million worth of cocaine at the Durban Harbour from a container that was on a vessel to SA from Brazil. This is the third MASSIVE drug bust in two months. In October R150 mil worth of cocaine was seized at the same harbour. pic.twitter.com/H9BeFo0tZU-- Athlenda Mathe (@AthlendaM) December 5, 2023

"Members were following up on intelligence and monitored a container that was on a vessel from Brazil," she said.

"A multidisciplinary team inspected the container at a cold storage facility and found 433 blocks of cocaine disguised in meat boxes."

Food company logo

Based on photographs of the crackdown that the SAPS issued, some of the cocaine, in brick form, was contained in packaging with an image of an owl on it.

Other bricks were in packaging with the word "Seara", and a logo printed on it.

An online search showed that Seara...