A police informant told the High Court in Johannesburg how West Rand senior police officers hoodwinked their uniformed colleagues into thinking that were conducting legitimate drug raids when they were in fact smuggling the drugs.

Informer Norman Kokoeng was testifying in a drug dealing, racketeering and fraud case against Senior Superintendent Dumisani Jwara (43) Captain Landro Mokgosani and Captain Victor Jwili (38) on Thursday.

"Sometimes uniformed local police officers will come while we were busy with the raid... maybe after a neighbour had called and complained about the noise.

"... When they got there, we just told them we were from the Organised Crime Unit in the West Rand, so they would just observe... so we still managed to keep some of the drugs for ourselves and gave them a few to hand over as exhibits, then hand over the suspects," Kokoeng said.

He said after handing over the suspects and some of the drugs, they would drive with the local police to the nearest police station where a case would be opened.

They would then drive off with the drugs they had kept for themselves.

The drug smuggling operation involving the police officers was allegedly conducted between 2005 and 2007 in the Johannesburg suburbs of Paulshof, Fourways, Sandton as well as Lyttelton in Pretoria.

One of the biggest drug smuggling incidents they were allegedly involved in involved the theft of 198kg of cocaine from the OR Tambo International Airport which they later sold for R1 425 000.

A fourth accused, Captain Sakhepi Caiphus Shange, died in police custody in July.

The trial continues.