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Brazil’s drug mule boom hits SA — multiple arrests and cocaine worth millions seized

Brazil’s drug mule boom hits SA — multiple arrests and cocaine worth millions seized
A suspect from Paraguay was arrested at OR Tambo International Airport for allegedly smuggling what appeared to be cocaine, ingested in plastic bullets, from Brazil. (Photo: SA Police Service)
Caryn Dolley
By Caryn Dolley
10 Dec 2024
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Police have caught roughly a dozen suspected drug mules at OR Tambo International Airport over a few months, most with ties to Brazil’s São Paulo. Cops there, meanwhile, have noted a smuggling increase via the airport and found a house where ‘mules’ were prepared before flights.

On a recent Saturday a woman from Brazil was planning to board a plane at the airport in São Paulo and fly to South Africa.

Instead, police flagged and searched her, found 3kg of cocaine attached to her body, and arrested her.

The 21-year-old suspect now faces jail time in Brazil.

And there are several others like her in different countries risking their health and freedom to make quick money working for trafficking syndicates who put them on flights between countries.

There are even cases involving pregnant women being arrested and giving birth while jailed – this week a five-year-old, who was born while her mother was detained in Mauritius for drug trafficking, was expected to be repatriated to South Africa.

In terms of Brazil, Daily Maverick has established that arrests, especially in São Paulo, of suspected drug-smuggling couriers, or mules, have tripled there this year.

And the ripple effect is being felt about 7,450km away – here in South Africa.

South Africa and São Paulo


This country has a deep drug trafficking history with Brazil.

A high-profile case in point is that of Sheryl Cwele, once the wife of South Africa’s intelligence minister, who in 2011 was convicted of drug trafficking in a case directly linked to Brazil.

Smuggling between the countries persists.

Over roughly four months there have been at least 11 arrests, with ties to São Paulo, at Johannesburg’s OR Tambo International Airport.

Its website describes it as “the busiest airport on the continent of Africa”, which could explain why traffickers seem to prefer it.

The recent arrests have involved suspected mules who tried smuggling cocaine into South Africa either on, or crammed into, their bodies.

While some mules choose to transport drugs to make money, others may be lured, with the promise of jobs.

drug mule A suspected drug mule was arrested at OR Tambo International Airport in September 2024 after travelling from Brazil. Cocaine was found hidden in headphones he had. (Photo: SA Police Service)



A 2022 Brazilian Ministry of Justice and Public Security report on human and drug trafficking refers to a case involving a South African woman who said that after receiving a job offer in Brazil, she was coerced there into smuggling drugs.

Last week, South African Police Service (SAPS) spokesperson Brigadier Athlenda Mathe confirmed to Daily Maverick that: “Most of the drug mules are coming from flights from São Paulo.”



Some SAPS statements about related arrests say officers acted on “intelligence”, suggesting they followed up on information they uncovered, or tip-offs that may have come from individuals or agencies, including cops in other countries.

But some sources with ties to policing have questioned whether the OR Tambo crackdowns involved “decoy mules” – individuals carrying smaller parcels of drugs who are set up to be arrested.

Members of syndicates intentionally tip off police about those mules to distract officers from larger drug consignments brought into the country at the same time.

‘High risk departure point’


São Paulo has repeatedly cropped up in terms of airport drug smuggling.

About a month ago the South African Revenue Service flagged it as “a high-risk departure point for drug mules, accompanied as well as unaccompanied luggage containing cocaine”.

This was after 47 bricks of compressed cocaine, worth about R25-million, were discovered concealed in luggage.

The luggage was unaccompanied on a carousel for a flight from São Paulo at OR Tambo International Airport.

Aside from that luggage interception, there have been several drug mule crackdowns, mainly at OR Tambo.

Itinerary of intercepts:

  • 6 December: A suspect (43) from Paraguay is arrested at the airport after arriving from São Paulo. “The drug mule was taken to a local hospital where a medical X-ray revealed the presence of foreign objects in her stomach,” the SAPS say. “A total of 33 drug bullets containing cocaine were subsequently released”;

  • 3 December: Crime Intelligence officers intercept and arrest a suspect from Brazil (21) at OR Tambo. He had flown from São Paulo. An X-ray reveals drugs in his body;

  • 28 November: A woman from Brazil (44) is arrested at OR Tambo after landing from São Paulo. According to police, cocaine worth R1.9-million is found wrapped around her upper body;

  • 24 November: A 25-year-old man from Brazil is arrested at OR Tambo after landing from São Paulo. He is found with more than 3kg of drugs wrapped around his body, later confirmed to be cocaine worth R1.8-million;

  • 23 November: A suspect is arrested at Guarulhos International Airport in São Paulo. Brazil’s Federal Police say she planned to board a flight to South Africa with cocaine packages attached to her body;

  • 12 October: A suspect from South Africa is arrested in Addis Ababa in Ethiopia with 13kg of cocaine worth R5.4-million. Police in Gauteng flagged her based on suspicions that she collected drugs in Brazil and planned to fly back to South Africa via Addis Ababa and Sudan;

  • 6 October: The SAPS announces it has arrested a 14th suspected drug mule at OR Tambo in recent weeks. Aside from two alleged traffickers from Holland, found with 80kg of khat, a suspect from Paraguay is detained after landing from São Paulo. “A medical examination confirmed that he had swallowed multiple foreign objects and has so far released more than 20 bullets suspected to contain cocaine,” police say;

  • 29 September: A woman (21) is arrested at OR Tambo after arriving from São Paulo. “She was taken to a local hospital where an X-ray confirmed that she was having foreign objects in her stomach,” police say;

  • 22 September: A suspected 30-year-old drug mule from Namibia is arrested at OR Tambo after arriving from São Paulo. “She too was taken for medical examination and released more than 60 drug bullets,” the police statement reads;

  • 13 September: A suspected drug mule from Nigeria is arrested at OR Tambo after travelling from São Paulo. “He met with a cleaner at the airport and handed him airline headphones,” police say. Officers intercept and dismantle the earphones and find cocaine. The cleaner flees, while the suspect claims he is a street vendor in Nigeria and was in Brazil buying clothes and shoes to sell in his home country. Police investigate his claims;

  • 27 August: A suspect (33) is arrested at OR Tambo after Hawks officers search her luggage and find 10kg of cocaine. She claims to have been in Brazil to shop for a wedding. Two other suspects spotted in the arrivals hall are questioned; and

  • 30 July: A suspected drug mule from Brazil, who travelled on a plane from São Paulo’s Guarulhos International Airport, is arrested at OR Tambo. A cocaine consignment worth R1-million is found on the plane and the SAPS say it is believed it was strapped to his body.


While the South African authorities have flagged São Paulo as a key departure destination for drug mules, cops in Brazil have done the same.

Making mules


At the end of October officers there announced an operation to dismantle a group involved in sending mules, who had swallowed capsules (or bullets) of drugs, to other countries, especially around Europe.

It was one of at least 10 similar operations held this year which resulted in more than 30 arrests.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DaGf-UkLo_k

Brazil’s Federal Police said that in the October crackdown they identified a woman based in the east of São Paulo and suspected of heading a criminal organisation that was preparing and pushing drug mules to the airport there.

“Through investigations, which began in September 2024, evidence was gathered that the group is made up of at least four individuals, including a nursing professional, who would be responsible for administering medications that help maintain the capsules, containing cocaine, inside the body,” they said.

Tripled trouble 


In February 2024, the Federal Police also targeted a house in São Paulo which they suspect was used as accommodation and a preparation facility for mules.

It was not the first such facility uncovered there – in November 2023 a drug mule training facility was raided in São Paulo.

According to a Federal Police statement on the February incident, officers who searched that house found several bunk beds, medication, suitcases and packages of cocaine.

The officers also came across two individuals from Rio de Janeiro waiting to ingest drugs before heading to an airport.

Two other suspects fled.

Read more: Unemployment, allure of cash sees spike in SA drug mules held in foreign jails

Brazil’s Federal Police said the raid on the house took place after 17 suspected drug mules were arrested in January at São Paulo International Airport in Guarulhos.

Fast-forward to the end of November when Brazil’s Federal Police provided an update.

Between January and 24 November, a total of 546 suspects were arrested in connection with smuggling, and 168 of them had drugs in their digestive systems.

Daily Maverick has established, through comparing different Brazilian police statements, that this is more than triple the 41 mules intercepted there in the whole of 2023. 

A suspect was arrested in Ethiopia after police in Gauteng flagged her as possibly having collected drugs in Brazil destined for South Africa. Cocaine worth R5.4-million was discovered. (Photo: SA Police Service)


Real deals vs decoys


Aside from airports, many other drug trafficking conduits and routes exist between South Africa and Brazil.

Daily Maverick has reported extensively on those.

Traffickers are known to use the Port of Durban to push masses of cocaine, concealed in shipping containers, into the country.

Read more: Cocaine’s deadly destinations – the Durban link to the bodies piling up in Brazil’s drug battles

On Monday last week, KwaZulu-Natal police found R80-million worth of pure cocaine, disguised as kidney beans, concealed in a container at Durban Harbour.

The crackdown came after police monitored a vessel travelling from Brazil with the consignment destined for Johannesburg.



Towards the end of 2023, over roughly two months, the South African police seized more than R360-million worth of cocaine that arrived in this country by sea from Brazil. 

Now, given the frequency and the timing of the recent drug mule arrests, it seems the same is happening in terms of interceptions at OR Tambo International Airport.

Patricia Gerber, who heads the organisation Locked Up, which helps South Africans arrested abroad for drug smuggling, was among those who suspected the airport arrests could involve decoy mules.

Read more: R151-million cocaine disguised in meat boxes seized in Durban in latest SA-Brazil bust

She based this on the quantity of drugs that those arrested were caught with, saying that the consignments were small.

“Drug lords are targeting vulnerable individuals… some of them are manipulated. Lives are being ruined,” Gerber said.

“But the drug lords aren’t getting arrested.”

If a mule travelled between two countries, arrests should be made in both countries as there would clearly be syndicate members operational in both and this would piece together trafficking channels.

A suspect from Paraguay was arrested at OR Tambo International Airport for allegedly smuggling what appeared to be cocaine, ingested in plastic bullets, from Brazil. (Photo: SA Police Service)


Born in a foreign jail


Gerber warned that drug mules can face stiff prison terms and harsh realities when detained in other countries.

Various cases prove this.

On Monday this week a delegation from the Social Development Department travelled to Mauritius to collect a five-year-old who was born while her mother was jailed there for drug trafficking.

“If the child is not repatriated to South Africa, she might be placed in the welfare system in Mauritius which will not be in her best interest, as it might complicate her chances of being returned to her family in South Africa,” the department said.

In March 2024, a two-year-old was repatriated from Senegal where the child was born days after the South African mother was detained for drug trafficking.

There are many other South Africans sitting in jail in various countries for drug trafficking, while individuals from other countries are jailed here.

Serious prison time


A judgment from the high court in Gauteng, dated June 2024, shows that an accused, Bone Figueroa Maria Jose (24), a first-time offender with three minor children, failed to appeal an 18-year sentence.

While the judgment did not say where Jose was from, it said she was arrested at OR Tambo International Airport in May 2018 for smuggling more than 4kg of cocaine into the country.

In November 2021, in another Gauteng case, Jose Robson Lopes Jnr de Oliveira failed to appeal his prison term of 12 years.

The judgment said he was from Brazil, unmarried, did not have children, and had worked as a hairdresser in São Paulo, earning the equivalent of about R1,000 a month.

Read more: Vietnam sentences South African drug smuggler to death

De Oliveira supported his elderly diabetic mother.

He arrived at OR Tambo from Brazil in February 2020, was searched and it was discovered that there were “condoms stuffed with” cocaine in his bowel.

De Oliveira was arrested and charged with drug trafficking. He pleaded guilty.

“During his sentencing [he] claimed that he was asked to carry the substance by his boss (Danny),” the judgment said.

“Danny also looked after [De Oliveira’s] mother and occasionally paid for her medication. Danny had promised the appellant more money if he transported the cocaine to South Africa.”

In December 2020 De Oliveira was sentenced to 12 years in jail – the sentence he failed to appeal. DM

Caryn Dolley’s explosive new book, Man Alone: Mandela’s Top Cop – Exposing South Africa’s Ceaseless Sabotage, is now available in bookstores and at the Daily Maverick Shop.

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