Two SAA Employees Reportedly in Biggest Airline Drug Bust in a Decade in Hong Kong

HONG KONG – Two flight attendants from South African Airways have been arrested and have appeared in court in Hong Kong, reportedly for smuggling cocaine worth more than $23 million into the territory, in the biggest drug-trafficking case of its kind there in the last decade.

South African Airways spokesman Tlali Tlali confirmed on SABC news that two of the airline’s employees had been arrested in Hong Kong on suspicion of being in possession of drugs. It was reported in The Star that one of the suspects was part of a special crew that accompanied President Cyril Ramaphosa to Geneva last year.

Hong Kong Customs and Excise released a statement saying that two flight crew members were arrested on September 22 and 24 and they seized “about 18.3 kilograms of suspected cocaine with an estimated market value of about $23.7 million.” The airline the two were working for was not identified.

“This is the largest drug trafficking case involving flight crew members detected by Customs in the past decade,” the customs office said.

It said a 39-year-old woman and a 35-year-old man were arrested. They were charged with one count of trafficking in a dangerous drug and were to appear in the West Kowloon Magistrates Court on September 26. Under the Dangerous Drugs Ordinance, the maximum penalty upon conviction is a fine of $5 million and life imprisonment.