About two weeks ago, two Tanzanian female artists were arrested at Oliver Tambo international airport in Johannesburg, South Africa, with 150kgs of drugs worth $5 million(Sh8.2 billion); the two had just arrived in South Africa from Dar es Salaam from where they had boarded a South African Airways plane, a direct flight, meaning their drugs were smuggled through Julius Nyerere International airport.
Then on Friday this week, two Tanzanian men were arrested in Hong Kong with drugs worth $1.38 million, where they were arrested upon arrival from Dar es Salaam via Dubai. They had left the country on Thursday at 5pm aboard an Emirates flight to Hong Kong via Dubai international airport.
The arrest cast doubts about the security systems at the Julius Nyerere international airport as well as painting a negative picture of the country’s image, which was recently cited as a major conduit of drugs in the Southern African region.
Customs authorities in Hong Kong have arrested two male Tanzanians in connection with drug trafficking at a street value of $1.38 (Sh2.2 billion, reports say.
The arrests involved three drug trafficking cases, with seizures amounting to a street value of $4.78 million (Sh7.6 billion).
Customs officers at the Hong Kong International Airport (HKIA) report that they intercepted a 26-year-old incoming male passenger arriving from Tanzania for clearance yesterday afternoon and seized 1.6kg of heroin concealed in two false compartments of his hand luggage. The drugs would fetch a value of about $1.28 million
Later that evening, Customs officers at the HKIA intercepted another 45-year-old man from Tanzania for clearance.
The suspect was escorted to hospital where he discharged 204g of heroin within a day. The street value of the drugs was about $0.16 million. The suspect is still in the hospital.
The names of the two suspects are yet to be released by the Hong Kong authorities.
Police Commander in-charge of the Julius Nyerere International Airport (JNIA), Deusdedit Kato told The Guardian on Sunday yesterday that his office was not aware of the arrests in Hong Kong.
The head of the police anti-narcotics unit, Godfrey Nzowa, said he was not informed and if there was such an incident he would brief the police office at the JNIA.
Reports from Hong Kong also had confirmed that Customs officers intercepted a 28-year-old man at a car park in Tai Kok Tsui, where some 2.03 kg of cocaine camouflaged as snacks were found inside a plastic bag.
Customs officers later escorted the suspect to a domestic flat nearby for search and seized a kilo of cocaine and 290 grams of crack cocaine there. The total street value of the seizure was about $3.34 million (Sh 5.3 billion)
A customs spokesperson said on Friday that all three suspects in the three cases were arrested for drug trafficking. The cases are still under investigation.
Under the Dangerous Drugs Ordinance, drug trafficking is a serious offence carrying a maximum penalty of life imprisonment and a fine of $5 million (Sh8 billion).
The latest arrests come just a fortnight after the country was named among five leading conduits for drug trafficking within the Southern African Development Community (SADC).
Foreign Affairs minister Bernard Membe then told a the 15th meeting of the Ministerial Committee Organ (MCO) responsible for Defense and Security Cooperation within the SADC region that among the top five as Mozambique, South Africa, Angola and Namibia, whose harbours and airports were used to facilitate the illegal trade.
The minister’s remarks come in the wake of recent arrests in Johannesburg of two Tanzanian women --Agnes Jerald (25) and Melisa Edward (24) -- who were travelling from Dar to South Africa after authorities at the Oliver Tambo International Airport discovered 150kg of the banned drugs in their luggage.
The South African Revenue Services (SARS) has since put the estimated street value of the haul at R42.6m (about $4.3 million). The duos was carrying crystal methamphetamine, better known as ‘tik’ in the local South African grassroots language.
SOURCE: GUARDIAN ON SUNDAY
No comments:
Post a Comment