Cape Town International Airport has been identified by SAPS as one of three major international airports exposed to elevated organised-crime risk, according to a parliamentary response by Acting Police Minister Professor Firoz Cachalia dated 20 August 2026. The assessment places the airport alongside OR Tambo and King Shaka International as strategic environments facing dynamic criminal threats, particularly narcotics trafficking.
“The South African Police Service has identified major international airports and associated air-cargo facilities as strategic environments that are exposed to elevated and dynamic organised-crime risk,” Cachalia said in the response recorded by the Parliamentary Monitoring Group. Across the three airports, 117 narcotics-smuggling cases were registered during the period 2023/2024 to 2025/2026, he confirmed.
During the same period, annual theft cases at the airports declined from 631 to 586, aviation-security breaches from 15 to 9, armed robberies from 4 to 1, and vehicle hijackings from 2 to 0. ACSA spokesperson Ofentse Dijoe said the agency’s role is to provide a secure airport operating environment and enable integrated, intelligence-led interventions through infrastructure, technology and coordinated multi-agency operations.
“These measures are not intended to replace the statutory border-control, customs, intelligence, investigation, arrest and prosecution mandates of SARS Customs, SAPS and other competent state agencies,” Dijoe said, as reported by IOL on 30 August 2026. The police response includes integrated multi-agency operations, intelligence-led profiling, and the searching of suspicious cargo and conveyances, according to Cachalia.
SAPS confirmed a 33-year-old suspect was arrested with cocaine at Cape Town International on 16 March 2025, according to a SAPS media release. On 23 July 2025, a joint operation involving the Hawks, Border Management Authority, Customs and SAPS led to the arrest of a woman for alleged drug dealing at the airport, as first reported by the Cape Argus.
Not all crime attributed to the airport occurs inside the precinct. Police said 42 cases reported at Cape Town International between 1 April 2024 and 31 March 2025 were linked to incidents outside the airport, at Exit 18 off the N2 into Borcherds Quarry Road near Nyanga, as reported by TimesLIVE on 12 August 2025.
The Borcherds Quarry Road area has been a persistent crime concern along the N2 corridor linking the airport to Cape Flats communities, with motorists frequently targeted at intersections. An MP demanded answers from airport authorities and police after tourists reported being targeted near the precinct, according to the same TimesLIVE report.
Verified through the official Parliamentary Monitoring Group record and independently reported by IOL on 30 August 2026. Cape Flats News journalist Nadia Adams will seek SAPS Western Cape data specific to Cape Town International alone, while the court status and identities of the arrested suspects remain unconfirmed as of 31 August 2026.