{"id":224902,"date":"2026-05-08T13:05:26","date_gmt":"2026-05-08T13:05:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/224902\/"},"modified":"2026-05-08T13:05:26","modified_gmt":"2026-05-08T13:05:26","slug":"drug-bust-hawks-arrest-sandra-pillay-seize-luxury-vehicle-with-r3-million-concealed-in-boot","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/224902\/","title":{"rendered":"Drug bust: Hawks arrest Sandra Pillay, seize luxury vehicle with R3 million concealed in boot"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>THE Hawks have arrested Sandra Pillay, a 53-year-old woman from Durban, in connection with a significant<a href=\"https:\/\/thepost.co.za\/news\/2026-05-06-pictures-durban-harbour-drug-bust-police-recover-r13-million-in-cocaine\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"> drug laboratory<\/a> investigation in Standerton, where millions in cash and luxury vehicles were seized.<\/p>\n<p>Pillay handed herself over to the Standerton police on Wednesday, following an intensive <a href=\"https:\/\/thepost.co.za\/news\/2026-04-03-patricia-pillay-and-four-others-arrested-in-drug-bust-linked-to-money-laundering-syndicate\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">investigation<\/a> by the Hawks Serious Organised Crime Investigation, based in Secunda.<\/p>\n<p>She was charged and appeared before the Standerton Magistrate\u2019s Court, where she was granted bail of R10 000.<\/p>\n<p>Pillay is expected to appear again in court on June 23, where she will join her co-accused.<\/p>\n<p>Her arrest follows the earlier discovery of a clandestine <a href=\"https:\/\/thepost.co.za\/news\/2026-03-23-pictures-police-seize-r8-million-in-gold-cocaine-in-somerset-park-drug-bust\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">drug laboratory<\/a> in Standerton, where authorities arrested two South African nationals and five Mozambican nationals.<\/p>\n<p>During the operation, investigators also seized 11 vehicles, including seven luxury vehicles, as well as more than R3 million in cash concealed in the boot of one of the luxury vehicles.<\/p>\n<p>It has been alleged that Pillay\u2019s vehicle was among the luxury vehicles recovered at one of the premises, allegedly used to produce final drug products.<\/p>\n<p>The vehicle was allegedly found containing more than R3 million in cash, concealed in the boot.<\/p>\n<p>The Provincial Head of the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation in Mpumalanga, Major General Nico Gerber, commended the investigating team for their unwavering commitment and dedication in ensuring that all individuals linked to illegal drug manufacturing and trafficking are brought to justice.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/thepost.co.za\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">POST<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"THE Hawks have arrested Sandra Pillay, a 53-year-old woman from Durban, in connection with a significant drug laboratory&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":215492,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[52],"tags":[36084,1638,112892,16150,114459,4913,114457,1371,56501,114453,114458,131,3513,114454,114456,114455],"class_list":{"0":"post-224902","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-south-africa","8":"tag-directorate-for-priority-crime-investigation","9":"tag-durban","10":"tag-hawks-serious-organised-crime-investigation","11":"tag-https-thepost-co-za","12":"tag-mozambican","13":"tag-mpumalanga","14":"tag-nico-gerber","15":"tag-post","16":"tag-provincial-head","17":"tag-sandra-pillay","18":"tag-secunda","19":"tag-south-africa","20":"tag-south-african","21":"tag-standerton","22":"tag-standerton-magistrates-court","23":"tag-the-hawks"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@africa\/116539105297064543","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/224902","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=224902"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/224902\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/215492"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=224902"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=224902"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=224902"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}