Ok the second situation just happened last week at Polokwane airport in Limpopo. My PH asked if I could bring some empty brass cases and bullets (heads or points as they call them) so he could reload for his 458 Lott work rifle. The reloading components he wanted were hard to find and very expensive in Africa. Of course, no problem…I’ve done it before and probably many of you have done the same for your PHs.
Again we have a scenario where the components in question cannot be listed on the rifle permit. They are not loaded ammunition. They are not regulated. They can be bought in a store by anyone in the US or Africa. I was just doing a good deed for my PH friend. I was also bringing him some empty plastic ammo boxes and miscellaneous non-regulated items to help him out.
I go through OR Tambo security upon landing and claim my bags. We open them in the SAPS office and verify the contents against the permit with serials, amounts of ammo, etc. The officer there sees the box of Hornady brass and TSX bullets and the box of bullets even breaks open. He helps me put them back in the factory cardboard box and closes up the case for me to proceed to the next flight, which is domestic to Polokwane on Airlink. Ok, done and done.
I fly into Polokwane and if you’ve been there it’s a tiny place. One gate…very few employees and a SAPS police station there. We walk the bags over to the SAPS room to clear the permits again. Remember, they’ve been cleared, signed and dated already by the OR Tambo police. It should be a formality as nothing has changed.
We clear the guns, ammo and permit again…then the officer says what’s this stuff (pointing at the empty cases and bullet boxes). My PH is standing there and says those are for reloading but they are not ammunition so they are not regulated by the permit. The officer looks confused and starts counting every piece…then gets another officer who counts every piece and asks the same questions. Clearly we have hit an obstacle. More officers come in…then they move us next door to the police station. There are 5 officers counting everything again and wondering why we have this issue. The PH explains numerous times that this is common….I brought this on his request…for his use…it’s not ammo, it’s components…there is much confusion. Then one officer gets a lightbulb moment and says this is like a bomb…say what?! Then another officer gets a flash of inspiration and says this is smuggling…and they start talking about bombs and smuggling. I remind you there is no gunpowder, primers or assembled components.
The short version is they were going to arrest me for smuggling and having bomb parts and said very strongly that the PH could go but I would be arrested and charged for these “crimes”. The PH said my client is not staying and they said yes he is. Of course the PH jumped on the phone and called someone who knew the senior police officer in town. That police boss said they needed to release us…they did not release us. Then the PH called an attorney who came to meet us on a Sunday (God bless him!). He said I will take care of this and we stood outside while he talked to the officers. Within 10 minutes, they came out laughing and said I’m happy if you’re happy. WTF? Oh, they were getting a bottle of whiskey and keeping the reloading components (to sell or throw away).
