Tshwane man linked to cocaine heist ‘inside job’ granted R50,000 bail - TimesLIVE

Pretoria tavern owner Lucas Legabe, who has been linked to the theft of R216m worth of cocaine from a Hawks facility in KwaZulu-Natal, has been granted R50,000 bail.

Magistrate Nonjabulo Moleele made the ruling on Monday following a three-day bail hearing in the Port Shepstone magistrate’s court last week.

The state alleges Legabe was ordered by police officers to steal the drugs and was among those who orchestrated the crime. Moleele said the state had failed to convince the court that Legabe was a flight risk and that he would interfere with the investigation.

“The seriousness of the charge, the scale of the alleged enterprise are real and I’m not discounting that, but they are offset by the absence of any evidence connecting the applicant to the physical disposal of the drugs,” she said.

The 49-year-old, who runs a tavern in Mabopane, Pretoria, and a logistics company, has denied any involvement in the crime. He says his arrest by the Hawks’ serious organised crime investigation unit on August 7 comes after the cocaine heist was raised at the Madlanga commission of inquiry into alleged police corruption.

The 541kg cocaine consignment was seized in June 2021 after Hawks investigators were called to inspect a container at the CHC container depot in Isipingo, near Durban, that was initially suspected of containing 27kg of drugs.

The drug consignment was taken to the Hawks’ Port Shepstone offices but was stolen during a burglary in November 2021.

The case has been adjourned to December 1.