As the 2018/19 financial year drew to a close‚ the SA Revenue Service (Sars) on Thursday said it had made significant strides in combating the import and export of illicit goods‚ saying it had seized items worth almost R3.7bn worth of goods. The goods included everything from narcotics and cigarettes to endangered species such as abalone and rhino horn‚ sex enhancement drugs‚ fake clothing and alcohol. Sars listed some of its major busts. In one instance‚ it seized cannabis oil‚ with an estimated value of R300m which was en route from Canada to South Africa. The bust happened at the Durban harbour on January 7 2019. A month earlier‚ acetanthranil‚ which is a mandrax precursor‚ with an estimated value of R45m was found en route from Hong Kong to South Africa at OR Tambo International Airport. Viagra pills to the value of R30m were found at OR Tambo International Airport on May 13 2018. The pills had come in from India. This was the second batch to be discovered as another batch of pi...
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