Quotable, on the record.

The Trilateral Planning Cell (TPC) is the ministerial mechanism through which South Africa, Mozambique and Tanzania plan, coordinate and act together against drug trafficking and the transnational organised crime that moves with it. It was established in Maputo, Mozambique, by the Ministers responsible for policing of the three republics, with the support of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), to counter the flow of illicit drugs and associated organised crime through the Southern Route. The TPC reports to a Ministerial TROIKA; Senior Officials of the member services implement its programme; a Secretariat in Maputo coordinates the work. The cell is not a police force: operations are executed by the national services — the South African Police Service, the Polícia da República de Moçambique and SERNIC, the Tanzania Police Force and the DCEA — under their own authority. Its work runs along seven lines: coordination; information sharing and analysis; tactical law enforcement and border control; financial investigation, disruption and asset recovery; legal finish; strategic messaging; and a technical and support pillar. Between July 2023 and July 2025, coordination through the cell produced seven major interdictions — about 3 826 kg of narcotics valued at R1.3 billion — including the region’s largest recorded seizure: 1 488 kg of methamphetamine and 1 356 kg of heroin in Tanzania in December 2023. The TPC works with UNODC, SARPCCO, INTERPOL, EAPCCO, SADC structures, EUROPOL, EU-ACT, the DEA and other partners, and is the regional anchor for a planned Regional Joint Counter Narcotics and Organised Crime Fusion Centre.