Two men were on Monday charged before a South African court in relations to 384 kilos of cocaine that were found hidden in an excavator last week.
The second-hand machine was found with the narcotics with a street value of ($144 million) Sh14.835 billion during a scanning session at the Sydney Container Examination Facility.
Chief Police Officer Ray Johnson said that the police orchestrated a controlled delivery of the machine and arrested the two in Bungedore on Sunday.
They were arraigned before the Queenbeyan Magistrates Court with charges of importation of a commercial quantity of border controlled drugs and attempting to possess the drug.
The group was remanded, with the police boss saying that they have nabbed thanks to a collaboration between the relevant authorities working to prevent drug smuggling into the country.
"The partnership of all the agencies involved has led to this successful outcome. Crime groups should be on notice - all of our agencies are working together to disrupt your activities and bring you before the courts," he said.
He added that several such discoveries and arrests have been made lately, proof of the tough security in South African ports.
“It’s clear this group thought that bringing drugs into our district using this machinery would avoid the scrutiny of law enforcement. The seizure of the 384 kilograms of cocaine and the recent arrests shows how wrong they were," he added.
The machine had been imported from Australia.
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