Let’s converse

I've been thinking :

[JvL 🇿🇦 @JvanLogg]

Nelson Pablo Yester-Garrido, also known as "Tony Yester," is a notorious Cuban-born drug kingpin, former intelligence officer, and associate of the Medellín Cartel who infamously operated a global narcotics network from South Africa for nearly two decades.

Yester-Garrido immigrated to the United States during the 1980 Mariel boatlift. By the 1990s, he had become deeply entrenched in international drug trafficking. His most infamous plot involved negotiating with Russian contacts to purchase a Soviet-era diesel submarine for Colombian cartels to smuggle massive quantities of cocaine into North America.

When US federal authorities uncovered the plot in 1997, Yester-Garrido fled to South Africa using a fraudulent Mexican passport under the name Antonio Lamas. Posing as a wealthy businessman, he settled into Johannesburg’s affluent suburb of Sandton. For years, he lived a high-society lifestyle, associated with local underworld figures like Glenn Agliotti and survived multiple local arrest attempts and collapsing prosecution efforts.

In April 2002, heavily armed police and Interpol agents intercepted Yester-Garrido as he drove out of his luxury home in Hyde Park, Johannesburg. Police raided his home, seizing over R1 million worth of luxury cars, $30,000 in cash, and roughly 20 fraudulent passports (including Mexican, Venezuelan, and Cuban identities). He had been living under the alias “Antonio Lamas”.

He was held at Pretoria Central Prison while the United States fought to have him extradited for his 1990s cocaine trafficking and submarine plot. A magistrate ruled in 2003 that he could be extradited. However, Yester-Garrido launched aggressive legal counter-challenges in the Johannesburg High Court. Due to political delays, legal technicalities, and the eventual dismissal of his initial US Florida charges, the government never handed him over, and he was released.

In March 2011, the Hawks arrested Yester-Garrido at his Sandton home in connection with a massive narcotics seizure.

In August 2010, authorities discovered 166kg of high-grade cocaine (worth an estimated R400 million) hidden inside the metal pillars of a shipping container at Gqeberha.

During his arrest, police also charged him with possessing an illegal Desert Eagle handgun. The gun was traced back to Chris Couremetis, a notorious underworld associate known as "Mr. Cocaine," who had been assassinated in a hit just months prior. In 2013, the state abruptly withdrew all charges against Yester-Garrido. Officially, the case stalled because of an unfulfilled Portuguese translation of crucial state documents.

A self-styled underworld informant later filed an affidavit claiming that Czech fugitive crime boss Radovan Krejcir had intervened on Yester-Garrido's behalf. The informant alleged that he had personally delivered R700,000 in cash to Port Elizabeth, which was reportedly destined for the team prosecuting Yester-Garrido to ensure the charges were dropped. While these corruption allegations were never proven in court, Yester-Garrido walked free once again.

He left South Africa in 2017. He did not leave permanently by choice; rather, he took a trip to Europe, which resulted in his capture because the US government had secretly built a new criminal case against him.

In December 2017 he was arrested by Interpol at Fiumicino Airport in Rome, Italy. Following a lengthy legal battle, Italy extradited him to the United States in July 2019.

In August 2020, faced with overwhelming evidence, he pleaded guilty in a Florida federal court to conspiracy to distribute high-grade marijuana, linked to a $250,000 drug debt collection he managed while living in South Africa.

In December 2020, he was sentenced to five years in US federal prison.

After receiving credit for time served in Italian and American detention facilities, Yester-Garrido was released from a Miami detention centre in January 2022.

[The Instigator @Am_Blujay]

Animals also find drunk people annoying 😂

[eNCA @eNCA]

Businessman Imran Bat has accused suspended Deputy National Police Commissioner Shadrack Sibiya of being part of an alleged criminal network. Bat says he is consulting the Madlanga Commission about testifying against Sibiya. Tune in to #eNCA on #DStv403.

[La-Ndlovu @destiny_ndlovu]

Bizan'i fire brigade 🎶🎶🎶

[Kim Heller @kimheller3]

👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼

[Dr Nasiphi Moya @nasiphim]

We discovered a property on Church Street, Pretoria West, that's accommodating more than 50 Ghanaian nationals. The property has outstanding municipal accounts for water and electricity. The property owner could not be located.

We've disconnected water and Building Control has issued a 21-day notice for an illegal building structure. @CityTshwane

[Africa Research Desk @MightiJamie]

We need a press conference with the President and the police minister fully re-instating him to his job.

The same energy used to remove him during Project Diversion must be expended to return him. He had nothing to do with Vusi Matlala and they wanted to embarrass him.

[Sentletse 🇿🇦🇷🇺🇵🇸🇱🇧 @Sentletse]

The villager is creating content in New York.

“Le mpone?” when gets back to rural Botswana in his ill-fitting suit.

[Ronald Lamola @RonaldLamola]

An inspiring evening speaking in the same place where Martin Luther King gave his Beyond Vietnam speech and where Nelson Mandela thanked a roaring crowd for not forgetting us, not abandoning us 🇿🇦 during the dark days of apartheid.

We refuse to forget or abandon the Palestinian people. 🇵🇸
We shall not be moved. 📍#TheRiversideChurch

[eNCA @eNCA]

Suspended National Police Commissioner Fannie Masemola has arrived at the Pretoria Magistrate's Court, where charges against him will be formally withdrawn. eNCA's @Sli_Masikane reports. Tune in to #eNCA on #DStv403.

[Global Folder @Global_Folder]

Zimbabwe is putting up an entire new city near Harare, called Zim Cyber City, and the figures attached to it are huge.

Later stages of the wider scheme are said to run as high as $60 billion. The first phase is put at $500 million and covers housing and offices.

China already paid for the parliament building now in use. UAE firm Mulk International is running the first phase.

The plan is to create a new urban centre from the ground up, with billions expected to go into infrastructure and development over the years.

[Julio  @arihojulio]

American ICE finally went to arrest a Ugandan man.
He ended up asking them for a selfie after telling them he's a Bunyoro King 😂😂😂😂.
Ugandans are just crazy all over the world

[zizipho @zizipho50]

Cic Julius Malema touched on a very important issue during his speech. Capetonians have been struggling for years to obtain fishing permits. It is a very lucrative industry, yet it remains extremely difficult for minority groups to enter because of the barriers created by the existing system.
The Coloured community, in particular, has been trying for years to gain meaningful access to this industry. A fighter told me today how he eventually had to sell his boat after making multiple attempts to secure a fishing permit, all of which were unsuccessful.
#WesternCapeManifestoLaunch #VoteEFF #VoteEFFLGE

[Asanda Magaqa @asandamagaqa]

This was a great interview. KSD Municipality Mayoral Candidate Commissar Ncedo Kolanisi is lucid. I'll share the link to the full recording in due course. Thanks @EFFSouthAfrica ❤️🖤

[bad influencer 🇿🇦 @ta_marah7]

Show me Sol’s pun that’s better than this one. Just when you thought he was done, he came with another hit.

[South African Government @GovernmentZA]

Congratulations to Mamelodi Sundowns!

The African champions have secured the FIFA African-Asian-Pacific Cup after defeating Al Ahli 2–1 at Loftus Versfeld in Pretoria, with Nuno Santos scoring both goals.

The victory sees The Brazilians progress to the next stage of the 2026 FIFA Intercontinental Cup, carrying the hopes of South African and African football onto the global stage.

Congratulations to the players, technical team, management and supporters of Mamelodi Sundowns on this historic achievement.

South Africa is proud!

Cred: @Masandawana

#Sundowns #FIFAIACup #IntercontinentalCup #GovZAUpdates

[Tlangi Mogale: CoT MMC Roads&Transport🖤💚💛 🇿🇦 @tlangimich]

He is actually South African, of Venda origins and a seasoned Engineer who graduated at Wits.🥹🥹

[Sentletse 🇿🇦🇷🇺🇵🇸🇱🇧 @Sentletse]

Nigeria is a joke of a country.

Why is Burna Boy driving around with police escort?

[Economic Freedom Fighters @EFFSouthAfrica]

The EFF MP, Commissar @SihleLonzi, called on all South Africans to rally behind the Student Debt Relief Private Member’s Bill, a progressive bill that will end the criminalisation of poor students who are unable to pay their fees and free thousands of young people from the chains of financial exclusion.

They say the doors of learning must be open, yet students can attend university, complete and pass their studies, but still be unable to graduate or receive their certificates because they owe the university money.

See link to the Bill here: https://t.co/PbVOeRZLAn