Last Wednesday’s drug bust was hailed as one of the biggest in South Africa’s history, although a few things have come to light since then.

You can read about the Villiersdorp bust HERE, complete with snaps of the drugs, but we’re moving on to the updated story posted on News24 earlier today.

I don’t want to take the mickey out of our police here, but surely they should know what drug they’ve found before going public with the news?

Anyway, those five points:

* Police said 253 boxes containing cocaine were discovered on a farm in Villierdorp on June 21. However, the drugs discovered may actually be heroin worth less than R500m.

* The drugs were discovered in boxes meant for wine, intended for export, on the Eerste Hoop farm.

* Community Safety MEC Dan Plato said it was alleged the drugs originated from a Boland wine farm.

* Three suspects were arrested. One, Mark Rodrigues [above], 23, who is Dutch, remains in custody and is expected back in the Caledon Magistrate’s Court on Wednesday.

* Last Wednesday, several sources with links to the underworld and policing, had said the drugs were discovered on a farm owned by Sea Point businessman Mark Lifman. Lifman denied this and News24 has since determined who actually owns the farm. The claims against Lifman have highlighted an ongoing apparent underworld smear campaign.

So it might not be cocaine – sorry heroin fiends, looks like you’re in for a price hike some time soon.

Perhaps the biggest pat on the back should go to the farmworkers who uncovered the drugs, with this account via Times LIVE:

The foreman at Witklip‚ near Villiersdorp…said workers raised the alarm when a pallet of wine destined for export to the Netherlands leaned precariously to one side.

“We unpacked the boxes. The first two layers were wine but at the third layer the boxes were much lighter‚” Godfrey Potberg [said].

“We cut it open and saw the powder‚ then we called the police.”

…Potberg said the pallets arrived at the farm in a van from Strand‚ and were due to be loaded into a container. Rodrigues had left the farm when the workers raised the alarm‚ he said‚ but he was called back by police.

“He was very nervous‚ he was smoking a lot of cigarettes. He wanted to make a phone call but the police took his phone away‚” he said.

Potberg said it was the first time workers at Witklip‚ which produces Eerste Hoop wines‚ had packed a consignment for someone else and it was the first time he had met Rodrigues or seen him on the farm.

Rodrigues clearly needs to work on his poker face.

Let’s stick to exporting fine wines, and steer clear of the brown sugar for now.

[sources:news24&timeslive]