The South African Police Service (SAPS) has strongly refuted claims surrounding the death of a Nigerian national in Sunnyside, Pretoria, labelling the reports as misleading and baseless.

This response follows statements from the Nigerian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which alleged that two of its citizens were killed in South Africa, one purportedly by police officers during an interrogation. The Nigerian government has expressed severe concern over the incidents, linking them to a broader surge in anti-migrant protests and warning of unspecified actions if the situation is not addressed.

According to an official statement released by the SAPS, the tracking of the suspect was purely intelligence-driven and unrelated to public protests.

The SAPS said on 28 June, members of the SAPS Tshwane Drugs Team raided an apartment in Sunnyside, where a Nigerian national was arrested after being found in possession of illegal drugs.

The SAPS explained that while handcuffed and being escorted to a police vehicle, the suspect collapsed, and officers requested immediate medical assistance, but paramedics declared the man dead at the scene.

The recovered narcotics were officially booked into the SAPS 13 store as evidence.

Because the death occurred while the suspect was in police custody, standard oversight protocols were triggered immediately.

The SAPS highlighted that the Independent Police Investigative Directorate (IPID) was called to the scene and authorities registered both an inquest case and a drug possession case.

Both a SAPS detective and an IPID investigator attended the postmortem examination.

The SAPS will continue leading the investigation pending the final results of the postmortem.

SAPS management has firmly rejected any attempts by social media users or foreign officials to link this custody death to anti-illegal immigrant protests, urging the public not to spread unverified information.