South African police detectives from the Greater Karoo attached to OCU-Narcotics, on Sunday morning, May 28, arrested a Nigerian man and a Zimbawean woman and seized drugs worth more than R20 million.

The 49-year-old Nigerian man and the Zimbabwean woman, 28, were driving along the N1 from Johannesburg to Cape Town with the stash.

Police spokesperson Captain Malcolm Pojie said the man and woman would appear in the Beaufort West Magistrate’s Court on Monday on charges related to the sale of drugs.

According to Pojie, the drugs were found after a joint operation by several police units. Western Cape detectives, members of the narcotics unit and the police’s dog unit in the Central Karoo were involved.

He said the drugs – cocaine and tik – which the police confiscated, was worth about R20.5 million.

The two were arrested at about 06:00 on Sunday morning after the car in which they were travelling was stopped. When police searched the car, they found 52kg of tik and more than 5kg of cocaine. It was hidden in plastic bags in the boot. They were arrested and the drugs and car confiscated.

The police suspect that the drugs had been destined for distribution in the Cape metropole. Pojie said it was one of the biggest drug busts this year in the Southern Cape.