Hawks Colonel Gavin Jacob has rejected claims that he ever stole the R200 million drugs that were stored at the Hawks offices in KZN.
Image: IOL Screenshot
Senior Hawks officer Colonel Gavin Jacob came under criticism for issuing instructions while on leave, directing an investigating officer in a cocaine seizure worth R200 million to send drug samples to Amanzimtoti Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) for analysis, even though that laboratory does not accept samples of drugs kept in safekeeping by the Hawks or other investigating teams.
This emerged during his testimony on Thursday at the Madlanga Commission of Inquiry, where he was scrutinised for his role in handling the drug exhibits that were eventually stolen from the Hawks Port Shepstone storage facility on November 8, 2021.
Jacob testified on Wednesday that he was on leave when crime intelligence officer Justice Duma called him to assist with inspecting suspected drug shipments at Durban Harbour on 22 June 2021.
According to him, he was booked in for the drug seizure operation, but he never got to claim back the day he worked. He told the commission that he then went back to his vacation.
However, on Thursday he came under fire for remaining active while on leave by issuing instructions to Warrant Officer Livingstone Mpangase, an investigating officer, regarding the handling of exhibits and for samples to be sent to FSL.
This was in light of a statement from Colonel Nonkululeko Khuzwayo, the Section Commander of the Chemistry Section of SAPS's KZN FSL stating: "FSL does not attend the crime scene or the police station where the drugs are stored for safekeeping to collect samples nor does FSL receive samples collected from Directorate for Priority Crime Investigations (DPCI) or other investigating teams for analysis."
The commission heard Jacob phoned Khuzwayo on June 23, 2021 while on leave. Khuzwayo allegedly told him samples could go to FSL.
"I know what Colonel Khuzwayo had told me...I believe that, thereafter, she realised she made an error that we are not supposed to take samples,” he said.
Co-commissioner Advocate Sesi Baloyi SC asked:"You are on leave at this point. What is the urgency that the first step you take the very next day is about taking a sample to Amanzimtoti? You haven't phoned Pretoria (FSL) to tell you that we don't have storage."
Jacob responded: "Being on leave in our job means you are not actively on duty but it is not something that is set in stone that you are on leave and you cut off all ties with your duties."
Baloyi said Jacob’s conduct contradicted his earlier claim that he had left the drug seizure investigation to Mpangase.
"You left and went back to your leave and then you came back and you took over from where you left off. The impression that I have is that Warrant Officer Mpangase was really holding for you," she said.
Jacob said he took the docket back from Mpangase because office staff knew Mpangase would retire in a few months.
Baloyi put it to him:"So, you are actively involved. You didn't leave it to Mpangase. Somewhere down the line in those days you talked to him about making sure that these things (drugs) are entered in SAP13. So, you continued to be active in this docket. It is misleading, in fact, to say I got involved until June 22 and I left them at Isipingo and I had nothing to do with the rest of this matter."
Jacob said: "The simple answer is that I am a conscientious commander… There may have been no need for me to phone the FSL. There may have been no need for me to continue liaising with him while I am on leave. But I felt it is my duty as a commander.
"There will be no plausible reason even if I was planning to steal drugs in a few months' time. There will be no reason for me to ask a member to take samples for analysis out of my own accord. There is no upside to it. It is going to raise eyebrows."
But Advocate Sandile Khumalo SC jumped in: "Here is the upside. If it is worth stealing then you need to know what quality this product is. Is it really cocaine? Because what is the point of stealing soap?"
Jacob also asked Warrant Officer Bheki Setshedi, a forensic drug analyst of the SAPS's FSL in KZN about destroying the exhibits quickly, since there were no suspects.
Seshedi testified the push to destroy came after theft attempts at Hawks’s Port Shepstone storage.
Jacob told the commission he only knew of the attempts after Brigadier Campbell Nyuswa, head of the KZN Hawks’ serious organised crime unit, alerted him, then passed the same information to Seshedi.