THE SOUTH AFRICAN CONNECTION: From Kabul to Nairobi — how US unmasked SA’s global drug links

From Kabul and Dubai to Nairobi and New York, US authorities used secret sources and cross-border tactics to capture accused traffickers, exposing deep links between drug rings and South Africa.

The July 2026 extradition of alleged Afghan trafficking kingpin Abdul Ahir Qadeer from Kenya to the United States mirrors a previous landmark narco-trafficking case. Both operations involved covert US intelligence gathering, cross-border extraditions, and direct links to South African drug networks – highlighting how deeply South Africa is embedded in the global drug trade and drawing heightened scrutiny from Washington.

Qadeer, a former politician, is now facing drug and weapons trafficking conspiracy charges in the US.

While Qadeer’s recent arrest made headlines, it follows a playbook set nearly a decade ago.

Back in 2017, US authorities extradited four suspects from Kenya to the US because of their involvement in a sprawling global drugs case. The main accused was Mandrax kingpin Vijaygiri Anandgiri Goswami, better known as Vicky Goswami , originally from India.

Though separated by nearly 10 years, both cases share structural parallels and a common thread: South Africa as a key operational hub.

This week, Daily Maverick reported on Qadeer’s extradition from Kenya to the US. It was alleged that Qadeer was an international drugs and heavy-weapons trafficker involved in a conspiracy to smuggle narcotics into the US.

Additional allegations tie him directly to South Africa. In late 2024, Qadeer allegedly arranged for a 2kg sample of methamphetamine (locally known as tik) to be handed over to a “buyer” in a Johannesburg parking lot. According to US authorities, though, the buyer was secretly supplying information to the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA).

Qadeer had also allegedly reassured the source that he could get the Taliban’s support to smuggle heroin.

𝗗𝗖𝗜 𝗘𝗫𝗧𝗥𝗔𝗗𝗜𝗧𝗘𝗦 𝗔𝗙𝗚𝗛𝗔𝗡 𝗡𝗔𝗧𝗜𝗢𝗡𝗔𝗟 𝗧𝗢 𝗨.𝗦. 𝗧𝗢 𝗙𝗔𝗖𝗘 𝗡𝗔𝗥𝗖𝗢𝗧𝗜𝗖𝗦 𝗧𝗥𝗔𝗙𝗙𝗜𝗖𝗞𝗜𝗡𝗚 𝗖𝗛𝗔𝗥𝗚𝗘𝗦 The Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI), through its Anti-Narcotics Unit (ANU), has successfully extradited Afghan national Abdul… pic.twitter.com/O2bOyfUIOi

Qadeer was arrested in a Nairobi hotel last year after the US lodged a criminal complaint against him. He unsuccessfully fought his extradition, arguing that the charges against him were politically motivated.

Following Qadeer’s extradition, the US Department of Justice confirmed he faces charges for allegedly “conspiring to import heroin and methamphetamine”. The federal crackdown on Qadeer closely mirrors Washington’s earlier prosecution of Goswami and his associates.

In the late 1980s and early 1990s, Goswami operated in Zambia, at a time when ANC figures were there in exile during apartheid. He once told a journalist, “I knew some of the ANC leaders and ministers when I was in South Africa from our days in Zambia.”

Goswami subsequently based himself in South Africa, where he was suspected of Mandrax trafficking.