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All case files · Case file 01

The Lebombo corridor file

Badplaas, Mpumalanga, South Africa · 16 July 2023

The record

Where
Badplaas, Mpumalanga, South Africa
When
16 July 2023
Quantity
250 kg
  • 250 kg heroin
Value
Details pending confirmationDetails pending confirmation
Agencies
SAPS · PRM · SERNIC · TPF · DCEA
Map of the Southern Route: from the Makran coast across the Indian Ocean to Tanzania and Mozambique, then by road and air into South Africa; the Atlantic cocaine vector; the outbound air vector to West Africa.The Lebombo corridor file — Badplaas, Mpumalanga, South Africa, 16 July 2023The region’s largest recorded seizure — Tanzania, 12–22 December 2023The Limpopo intercept — Limpopo, South Africa, 1 January 2024The Vilankulo seizure — Vilankulo, Mozambique, 5 March 2024The Delmas load — Delmas, South Africa, 10 October 2024The Beira landfall — Beira, Mozambique, 21 February 2025The false compartment — Lomahasha Border Post, Eswatini, 17–18 July 2025The outbound vector — Lagos, Nigeria — shipped from OR Tambo International Airport, South Africa, February 2024TPC headquarters — MaputoTANZANIAMOZAMBIQUESOUTH AFRICAMAKRAN COAST
On the route: Badplaas

Five beats

How the case moved

The five beats of the public narrative. Agencies named; persons never.

  1. The TPC convenes

    Coordination through the cell places the Lebombo corridor’s syndicate on the trilateral target picture.

  2. Intelligence shared

    The TPC provides actionable information to Mozambique and South Africa.

  3. Movement tracked

    The consignment is collected in Mozambique and driven through the Lebombo / Ressano Garcia border post.

  4. Interdiction

    16 July 2023, eManzana (Badplaas), Mpumalanga: 250 kg of heroin taken off the corridor.

  5. The network followed

    October–November 2023: operational meetings in Pretoria and Maputo — SAPS, DPCI–SANEB, SERNIC, DCEA and Eswatini — map the syndicate’s four-country loop. The same pattern is intercepted at Lomahasha in July 2025.

Outcome

The largest heroin interdiction on the corridor in the record, and the thread that led to the Lomahasha case two years later.

Gallery

Evidence

From the TPC’s public presentation. Faces are pixelated; plates, documents and signage are blurred. The redaction is the message.

  • Details withheld
    Inside the intercepted truck at Badplaas: packages laid across the load bed; the person present is pixelated

Next step

The network behind the record

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