Connecting the global drug trafficking dots - Durban and Dubai linked to cocaine smuggling ‘supercartel’

On 12 January 2021, a container ship travelling from Durban entered the port of Rotterdam in the Netherlands and its cargo was unloaded. Three days later, 739.5 kilograms of cocaine was found in one of its containers.

This cocaine consignment suggests that one of the world’s top trafficking accused, who is also a convict, has operated via South Africa – and that the country is very much a player among international drug and money laundering cartels.

Together they make up what the police in Europe have described as a “supercartel”, with has trails leading to Durban, Dubai, Ireland and Bosnia and Herzegovina, as well as the world’s top cocaine producer, Colombia.

Read more: Unmasking the ‘cocaine cartel’ diver arrested in Brazil enroute to South Africa

Daily Maverick has reported extensively on global trafficking taking place via South Africa. Countries including Brazil, Australia and Mexico have cropped up, and large-scale smugglers seem to favour using Durban Harbour.

The bodies of two Cape Town men who were thought to have been kidnapped by Colombian traffickers in Gauteng in July were discovered in the Free State this week.

Several recent drug-related arrests also emphasise how deeply South Africa is involved in transnational trafficking.

Hawks head Godfrey Lebeya. (Photo: Alaister Russell / Gallo Images)

Potential to ‘kill 500,000 people’

About 14 suspected drug mules were arrested at OR Tambo International Airport in Gauteng over a few weeks, while a South African suspect was detained in Ethiopia for alleged cocaine couriering.

Hawks head Godfrey Lebeya last week described drug trafficking as “the mostly visible transnational organised crime”.

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

He also warned: “While dagga, cocaine, heroin, methamphetamine and nyaope have been in the hands of traffickers, a more highly potent synthetic opioid called fentanyl has entered the trafficking conveyer belts…

“One kilogram of fentanyl has the potential to kill 500,000 people.”

The opioid is a massive problem in the US, where it is driving overdose deaths.

A suspect who was arrested with fentanyl in his possession in Cape Town in July said he got it in Johannesburg.

Edin ‘Tito’ Gacanin. (Photo: Facebook, sharpened using AI)

Working with foreign agencies

Although rival traffickers operate in and via South Africa, the “supercartel” consists of international gangs that have joined forces.

At the centre of these allegations is Edin “Tito” Gacanin, who is from Sarajevo, the capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and has a Netherlands passport.

Hawks spokesperson Brigadier Thandi Mbambo confirmed that the South African Narcotics Enforcement Bureau was aware of him.

“His name has come up as wanted in the Netherlands,” she said. “We have operations where we have been working with foreign agencies.”

Mbambo also confirmed that Durban Harbour “is our highest-risk seaport”.

“We have made multitonne [cocaine] seizures in the past few years based on intelligence and continue to monitor all information at transnational level.”

‘Global kingpin’ and Durban

As for Gacanin, the US has accused him of being “one of the world’s most prolific drug traffickers” and the head of an organised crime group known as the Tito and Dino cartel.

According to reports from Bosnia and Herzegovina earlier this year, Gacanin allegedly sent someone to Durban to oversee cocaine smuggling. But it is not the only matter connecting Europe’s “supercartel” and Gacanin to the city.

Read more: Busted – a global ‘super cartel’, encrypted message crackdown and cocaine trails to Durban

Daily Maverick sent questions about allegations against him and his links to South Africa to two lawyers in the Netherlands who have represented him, Leon van Kleef and Laura Versluis.

Van Kleef had “no comment to give” and Versluis simply said: “Unfortunately, I am unable to provide any comments regarding my client, Mr Gacanin.”

Gacanin has faced legal issues in different countries. Last year the US sanctioned him.

In a statement issued last year, the US Treasury said: “In addition to narcotics trafficking efforts across multiple countries, Gacanin’s cartel is involved in money laundering and is closely linked to the Kinahan Organised Crime Group, a transnational criminal organisation.”

Read more: Cocaine, gold and money laundering – Irish cartel’s ‘fingerprints’ lifted in SA

Daily Maverick reported last year that the Kinahan cartel, which is involved in crimes such as drug trafficking and gold smuggling, was likely to be active in South Africa.

An investigation by Bellingcat, a Netherlands-based investigative journalism group, showed that, based on Google reviews, the alleged head of the cartel, Christopher Kinahan Sr, had indeed been in South Africa, including in Johannesburg.

The US Department of State’s poster offering a reward for tips on Christopher Kinahan Sr.

Before the US sanctioned Gacanin, the EU’s law enforcement agency, Europol, announced in November 2022 that a “supercartel”, which “controlled around one-third of the cocaine trade in Europe”, had been taken down. Even though Europol did not name Gacanin, it is known that he was among 49 suspects detained during those investigations.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wYuWEb6K2iQ

He was arrested in Dubai and was wanted in the Netherlands on drug trafficking charges. A Dutch police statement said that “a 40-year-old Dutchman, who is also a citizen of Bosnia and Herzegovina”, had been detained in Dubai on suspicion of importing mass consignments of cocaine and preparing to import “raw materials for the production of amphetamine”.

The statement said his arrest came about after the interception of encrypted messages from a messaging network known as Sky ECC, which the police have subsequently shut down.

Read more: Dubye to justice – alleged drug kingpin wanted by the Dutch also freed in Gupta-style UAE extradition saga

“Because of the Sky chats, it is also suspected that the man was involved as organiser, broker and financier in the import of 739.5kg of cocaine from Durban (South Africa) to Rotterdam.”

Early last year, about two months after his arrest, it emerged that Gacanin had been released from custody in Dubai, in a move that surprised Dutch law enforcers, who wanted him sent to the Netherlands.

But he was not totally off the hook. Daily Maverick, through the Netherlands Public Prosecution Service, confirmed last week that Gacanin had entered into an agreement with the state and, in absentia, was sentenced to seven years in jail. in November last year. He was also fined €1-million (R19-million).

A judgment in the case against Gacanin (which does not refer to him by name) said he was guilty of importing drugs. It said that a container ship entered the port of Rotterdam on 12 January 2021.

After its cargo was unloaded three days later, “a total of 739.5kg of cocaine was found in the container” and Sky messages showed “the suspect had a leading role in the import of this batch of cocaine”.

That amount of cocaine exactly matches what Dutch police, in their statement issued about Gacanin’s November 2022 arrest in Dubai, said was imported from Durban to Rotterdam. This suggests that Gacanin was sentenced in the Netherlands in connection with that cocaine consignment.

Among the 23 people arrested on 22 April 2024 are not only accomplices, but also corrupt officials identified as facilitators of the network’s criminal activities. Leading up to this action, Bosnian-Herzegovinian authorities already arrested two suspects and seized €55,000 in cash, eight firearms, 11 police radios and money laundering documentation. On the action day, law enforcement seized further cash, cars, laptops and other evidence. (Photos: Supplied)

Black Tie investigations

Part of the action aimed at indicting and prosecuting Gacanin was codenamed Black Tie, according to information from Europol.

On 22 April, the Prosecutor’s Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina announced that operation “Black Tie 2” was being carried out to tackle international trafficking. It involved a mass raid across Bosnia and Herzegovina, including in Sarajevo.

In a statement about this crackdown, the Prosecutor’s Office said: “Among those arrested are high officials of police agencies and law enforcement institutions. Evidence from encrypted applications has been collected within the scope of the case.”

Europol also commented on Black Tie 2.

Despite Gacanin’s November 2022 arrest, it was alleged that he had cooperated with “other top-tier international drug traffickers in Dubai, with whom he jointly invested in multitonne cocaine trafficking ventures”.

Europol’s statement said the April raid in Bosnia and Herzegovina targeted the “inner circle” of a “drug kingpin apprehended in November 2022” – in other words, Gacanin.

It resulted in 23 arrests of “not only accomplices, but also corrupt officials identified as facilitators of the network’s criminal activities”.

R15-million worth of cocaine seized in Richards Bay in April 2024. It was on a ship travelling from Colombia. (Photos: SAPS)

Concurrent crackdowns

Daily Maverick has established that, on the day of the Black Tie 2 raid in Bosnia and Herzegovina, South African Police Service (SAPS) officers in KwaZulu-Natal intercepted blocks of cocaine worth R15-million in Richards Bay on a ship from Colombia.

Although the two events taking place on the same day may be coincidental, reports on court proceedings in Bosnia and Herzegovina say that Gacanin allegedly sent an associate to Durban to monitor cocaine trafficking from countries including Colombia.

The SAPS said the US’s Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) had been involved in the Richards Bay interception. Based on what police in Europe have stated, the DEA was also involved in the Black Tie 2 raid.

#sapsHAWKS KwaZulu-Natal: R15 Million worth of cocaine seized at Richards Bay Port of Entry. A search was conducted upon arrival of the vessel and during the search blocks of cocaine were found. No arrest has been made at this stage operation continues. #DrugsOffTheStreets ME… pic.twitter.com/cy40p9qpsh

— SA Police Service ?? (@SAPoliceService) April 23, 2024

After the raid, several media publications covered related court proceedings. The weekly magazine Stav reported that the prosecution alleged that an accused, Sančez Jukić, was involved in large-scale international cocaine trafficking. He reportedly denied the charges.

It was further reported that the prosecution alleged that Jukić had travelled to Durban on Gacanin’s orders to carry out logistical tasks relating to cocaine consignments from Peru and Colombia. He was allegedly also connected to plans to create another encrypted communication platform for traffickers to use.

Between 8 and 19 November, coordinated raids were carried out across Europe and the United Arab Emirates, targeting both the command-and-control centre and the logistical drugs trafficking infrastructure in Europe. (Photo: Europol)

Daily Maverick asked the Bosnia and Herzegovina Prosecutor’s Office about the charges Jukić faced. In response, it said: “As regards the ... suspect Sančez Jukić, his detention has been terminated and prohibiting measures have been imposed. The case is in the investigation phase, so, in the interest of the proceedings, we are unable to provide more details.”

South Africa has been referenced elsewhere in terms of Gacanin’s alleged reach.

In August this year, the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists also covered issues linked to Gacanin and, among others, a suspected deputy of his, Adnan Smajlovic.

The article said that, according to Bosnian prosecutors, Smajlovic and Gacanin “directed a money laundering operation for Gacanin’s cartel in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the UAE [United Arab Emirates], the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, South American countries, the Republic of South Africa and other nations”.

As far as Gacanin’s whereabouts are concerned, the report stated that he “lives freely in the emirate of Dubai”.

Read more: SA’s Narcos Capture – the Mandrax trafficker and ‘wanted terrorist’ matrix haunting the ANC, Zuma, Guptas

Authorities there also freed the Gupta brothers, Atul and Rajesh, who are wanted in South Africa in connection with State Capture crimes. They were arrested in Dubai in June 2022, but it emerged last year that South Africa’s request to extradite the brothers from the UAE was turned down. DM

This story first appeared in our weekly Daily Maverick 168 newspaper, which is available countrywide for R35.