Clash of the Cartels: Unmasking the global drug kingpins stalking South Africa
Publish date: 23 January 2023
Issue Number: 1011
Diary: IBA Legalbrief Africa
Category: General
Clash of the Cartels: Unmasking the global drug kingpins stalking South Africa
By Caryn Dolley
Maverick 451. $20
Assassinations are common. Life can be snuffed out over a stash of pills. A high in exchange for a hit. This is South Africa, home to cut-throat gangs and a lair to some of the world’s most notorious drug lords who seem to view the country as a buffer from prosecution. It’s easy to see why – politics has pummelled policing, first in the form of apartheid and then under Jacob Zuma’s presidency when state corruption exploded, and intelligence structures imploded. Tons of illicit drugs are pumped across the borders annually. This bleeds into other crimes including terrorism, arms dealing, kidnapping and extortion. Add hardened homespawned gangs to this toxic mix, and the combination is lethal. An array of local and foreign names surface when prodding this volatile matrix. Among them is one of India’s ‘most wanted,’ Dawood Ibrahim Kaskar, accused of partnering with the Taliban, and self-confessed drug trafficking mastermind Vijaygiri Goswami who claims to have helped finance the ANC. Then there is Brazilian trafficking accused Gilberto Aparecido dos Santos, and Cuban kingpin Nelson Pablo Yester-Garrido, who purportedly had a soft spot for Nelson Mandela. All four operated in South Africa. None were properly prosecuted in the country. This reinforces suspicions that politicians, government officials, and cops are protecting – and working with – powerful drug peddling thugs. Journalist Caryn Dolley has spent years tracing the footprints of kingpins from across the world. Through examining police investigations, delving into court documents, interviews with countless sources, and painstakingly tracking arrests, she pieces together a horrific puzzle showing how different criminal empires have overlapped, merged and clashed in South Africa. From off the Irish coast, to a jail in Dubai, US courtrooms, ports in Australia and Brazil, and cities in Serbia, this is the story of how some of the most ruthless criminals slither around South Africa, living among us while commanding gangs responsible for bloody warfare across the globe.
