Colonel Gavin Jacob, commander of the Hawks’ Durban Serious Organised Crime Investigation Unit, conceded that he lied about exhausting all avenues for storing 541kg of cocaine worth R200 million seized at the Durban Harbour in 2021.
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Senior Hawks officer Colonel Gavin Jacob came under intense scrutiny during his testimony on Thursday before the Madlanga Commission of Inquiry when he was forced to admit that he “lied” about exhausting all options near Durban Harbour in his endeavour to secure storage for the 541 kg of cocaine worth R200 million seized in 2021.
This followed evidence presented to him showing that Maydon Wharf, one of the Durban police stations, had the capacity to accommodate the seized drugs. The drugs were later stolen from the Hawks’ Port Shepstone storage facility, where they were eventually kept.
Jacob, commander of the Hawks’ Durban Serious Organised Crime Investigation Unit, told the commission that he did not contact neighbouring police stations such as Durban Central, Brighton Beach and Umbilo, because he assumed they lacked storage capacity for his exhibits.
On Wednesday, Jacob testified that he reported to his superior, Brigadier Campbell Nyuswa, head of the KZN Hawks’ serious organised crime unit, that he had “exhausted all avenues” and “I have no storage space” after Isipingo Police Station’s Warrant Officer Perumal indicated the station had no capacity to store the seized drugs.
Nyuswa instructed that the exhibits be taken to the Hawks’ Port Shepstone storage facility after consulting with Hawks head Major-General Lesetja Senona, who also took charge of the warehouse keys.
In his statement, Perumal disputed having a conversation with Jacob about storage space, but Jacob insisted that Isipingo refused to house the drugs.
Asked why he did not use nearby stations, Jacob said: "It is because these stations know the lab takes a long while to house, destroy, and analyse those exhibits. No station wants to give away their SAP13 space, more especially a station like Maydon Wharf which is close to our harbour."
He explained that his reluctance to use the local stations stemmed from past experience where they might have space initially but would later ask him to remove his exhibits to accommodate their own.
Evidence leader Advocate Mehlape Sello SC said: “The picture you are painting is disturbing. It is like everybody owns a police station. How do you work?”
Jacob cited the Malvern police precinct's seizure of eight tonnes of copper, arguing there was no space to store such a bulk exhibit.
He said he personally acquired a shipping container, arranged its transport using his own logistics, and asked the station to store it.
Within a year, every bit of that eight tonnes of copper was stolen, he said.
Jacob said the same thing happened at Isipingo in 2024 after the infrastructure task team seized tonnes of copper, but the station lacked space. They put the exhibits in a container on site and everything was stolen.
Commission chair Justice Mbuyiseli Madlanga objected, saying that cannot justify not asking about storage. He wanted to know why Jacob assumed there would be no space.
Under intense cross-examination, Jacob conceded that it was “not factually correct” to say he had exhausted all avenues and that he “lied”.
"How can you say you exhausted all stations while you simply made an assumption?" Madlanga asked.
Jacob said: "I will give you a practical example about Umbilo (police station) and maybe it will help shed some light. I think it was 900kg that was seized in the area and it was the next day that the lab took reception of these exhibits but those exhibits were stored in an unused cell, a single bricklayer cell and the station could only accommodate them for a limited period of time."
Sello noted that Maydon Wharf police station held six seizures between 8 May 2020 and 2 December 2024, including 999 kg of cocaine on 30 July 2021.
She said Jacob was “wholly wrong” to assume the station would refuse the exhibits because six weeks after his June 2021 seizure of 541kg of cocaine bricks, the station took in 999 kg of cocaine.
In response, Jacob said: "If you look at the 999 kg seized on 30 July 2021 these drugs were kept at the station for a period of three months before they were taken to the lab on November 12, 2021. In effect, this 999 kg would still be in Maydon Wharf in the safe and together with our 541 kg it would now mean there is going to be one and half tonnes of drugs at Maydon Wharf."
But Sello pointed out that Jacob was mistaken to think Maydon Wharf had capacity issues that would prevent it from storing 541 kg from the June 2021 seizure, because the station stored 999 kg of cocaine seized on July 30, 2021. Jacob agreed.
To further justify not using nearby police stations, Jacob said that in September 2020, the station around the harbour which had space could not accommodate his exhibits. But Madlanga said he could not have based his decision on something that was historical.
Jacob’s testimony continues.