NPA
Ten foreign nationals appeared in the Vredenburg Magistrates Court in the Western Cape on Thursday following a massive cocaine bust off the coast of Saldanha on Monday.
A language barrier, however, appeared to be a challenge in court since only one of the men can understand some English.
Four of the suspects are from Bulgaria and include 51-year-old unemployed Civil Engineer Asen Ivanov, a 45-year-old broker Borislav Stoyanov and two unemployed men identified as 47-year-old Mario Vasev and 53-year-old Atanas Bikov.
The remaining six suspects hail from Myanmar and include the 42-year-old ship Captain Kyaw Kyaw Han, 55-year-old Chief Engineer Khin Aung and three sailors.
The sailors are 27-year-old Zin Kyaw, 28-year-old Nyein Win and 38-year-old Kyaw Thu Win.
They will all be charged with dealing in drugs after cocaine bricks worth over R500 million were found on their fishing vessel.
It is one of the biggest cocaine busts in South Africa in recent times.
More charges could be added as police must still determine where the drugs came from and where they were destined for.
The NPA says the men's defence asked for interpreters to be brought to court to ensure that their Constitutional Rights to a fair trial are not trampled on.
The Defence also asked that the suspects not be booked out or interrogated without an interpreter present.
The case was postponed to the 12th of March for interpreters to be brought in.
The NPA says they do have a registered Bulgarian interpreter available but the challenge would be to find a Burmese interpreter, which is the language spoken in Myanmar.
