Another eight suspects have been arrested in connection with an international drug cartel.

The Hawks’ spokesperson, Colonel Katlego Mogale says that this latest group, including an Israeli, and two Lithuanian nationals, was allegedly involved with smuggling cocaine between South Africa and Brazil. They are due back in court on December 6.

Meanwhile, the group of eight arrested this morning, also in connection with the drug cartel, will appear in the Pretoria Magistrate’s Court on November 8 for their formal bail application.  Mogale says that their case is part of an ongoing investigation into the sale and transportation of drugs in South Africa.

She says that assets, including a bakkie, trailer, three boats, with a combined value of more than R 18.6 million, and drugs valued at R 400 million and cash seized on the N1 highway were finally forfeited to the state by the Gauteng and Western Cape High courts respectively.

These developments have dismantled an international drug cartel that has been under investigation by the Hawks, and the US, and Australian counterparts. More arrests and seizures of property used in cocaine smuggling are imminent.