SOUTH AFRICAN GANGS FLOODING SCOTLAND WITH DRUGS

CANNABIS supplies are flooding into Scotland from South Africa, say customs
officers.

They say Edinburgh airport has seen 17 seizures since 1999 while one has
been made at Glasgow. Twelve couriers - all of whom arrived at Edinburgh on
flights from South Africa - have been jailed for a total of more than 43 years.

Cannabis was seized at Edinburgh last Friday from a Johannesburg flight via
Amsterdam.

Customs sources said South African crime gangs were behind the export of
drugs to Scotland.

An insider said the flights all originated in Johannesburg and arrived in
Edinburgh via a number of transit locations, including Brussels, Zurich,
Paris, Frankfurt and Heathrow.

In June 1999, three South African women and a woman from Swaziland who
travelled from Johannesburg to Edinburgh via Amsterdam were sentenced to a
total of six years for smuggling almost 60 kilos of cannabis.

In the same year, a South African man who travelled via Brussels to
Edinburgh was jailed for four years for smuggling 11 kilos of the drug.

Also in 1999, two men who arrived in Edinburgh with more than 37 kilos were
sentenced to 11 years.

A 40-year-old man appeared at Edinburgh Sheriff Court yesterday, charged
with attempting to smuggle 31 kilograms of herbal cannabis, said to be
between UKP 90,000 and UKP 140,000, through Edinburgh Airport. He made no
plea or declaration and was remanded pending further inquiries.