May (ANA) - The South African Revenue Services (Sars) on Friday said customs officials seized male sexual enhancement pills with a street value of R30-million at the OR Tambo International Airport (ORTIA).
According to Sars, the 437kg of male sexual enhancement pills known as Viagra were seized at the weekend when officers on duty became suspicious about the description on the cargo manifest and who it was consigned to.
“After searching the cases, they discovered the massive haul of Viagra. This represents the biggest bust of sexual enhancement pills by Customs at ORTIA in the past year,” Sars said.
There were increasing incidents of illicit products being smuggled into the country without obtaining the required permits and being sold on the black market.
“Customs has been tasked with detaining all medicaments coming into the country on behalf of the department of health if they have not been declared correctly or do not have the required permits,” Sars said.
Sars said it has been involved in a number of cases in the past few months.
In January, a passenger arriving from India was intercepted and his luggage scanned at ORTIA. The scanner indicated irregular images which resulted in a luggage search which led to 40,000 sexual enhancement tablets, valued at approximately R4-million.
In October 2017, a shipment weighing 255kg from Mumbai to Johannesburg was intercepted at a cargo shed. Upon inspection, 35,680 Viagra Tablets, 2,589 Steroid pills, and other products were found. The total street value of the consignment was around R5.1-million.
Another shipment weighing 17.5kg from India to Johannesburg was also intercepted at a cargo shed. Upon inspection, 150,000 Viagra Tablets were found, with a value of approximately R1.5-million.
All of the above cases were handed over to the Department of Health for further investigation, Sars said.
- African News Agency (ANA)
