Sh6bn drugs seized in 2-and-half years

Intelligence reports suggest that the drug lords have changed their tactics to avoid detection. They now use airports outside Tanzania and recruit more women mules to transport the drugs with the help of middlemen operating in Nigeria and Tanzania. PHOTO/FILE 

By Bernard James The Citizen Reporter

Posted  Sunday, May 25  2014 at  00:00

In Summary

The Citizen on Sunday established that Nigerians topped the list of foreigners nabbed at local airports with drugs. Eighteen were Nigerian and four were Ghanaian.
Dar es Salaam. About Sh6 billion worth of heroin and cocaine has been seized at Tanzania’s major airports in the past two-and-half-years, according to police reports. That haul came from only 56 drug trafficking suspects at Julius Nyerere International Airport (JNIA) and Kilimanjaro International Airport (KIA).
The Citizen on Sunday established that Nigerians topped the list of foreigners nabbed at local airports with drugs. Eighteen were Nigerian and four were Ghanaian.
Intelligence reports suggest that the drug lords have changed their tactics to avoid detection. They now use airports outside Tanzania and recruit more women mules to transport the drugs with the help of middlemen operating in Nigeria and Tanzania.
The foreigners dealing in drugs work with cartels operating principally in East Africa but with a reach as far as China, Brazil, Canada, Japan, the United States and the United Kingdom.
The Brazil connection
Statistics from the Anti-Drugs Unit indicate that the Brazilian city of Sao Paulo has been a major source of cocaine entering Tanzanian through airports, with over 90 per cent sourced there. The travel documents of most of the suspects nabbed in airports also confirm that the drugs are sourced in that city.
Drug dealers who want to ferry huge quantities of drugs appear to prefer KIA for moving the drugs in and out of the country. Not a single suspect who has swallowed drug pellets has been arrested at the airport in two years, unlike those nabbed at JNIA.
Police statistics indicate that 22 traffickers were arrested in 2012, but the number dropped to 17 last year. The trend so far suggests, though, that arrests could double or even triple compared to last year given intensified security checks at all major airports.
Already, 18 people have been caught out at the airports this year, exceeding the total number of suspects arrested last year. This week, anti-narcotics officers at JNIA arrested a 65-year-old Nigerian woman as she attempted to download a large quantity of heroin she had swallowed.
The arrest of Olabisi Ibidum Cole, who had swallowed 82 heroin capsules came a few weeks after President Jakaya Kikwete scolded airport authorities, saying he was not happy with the state of security at key airports.
A visibly annoyed President Kikwete said he was particularly concerned about the continued use of JNIA and KIA as conduits for drug trafficking.
He made the remarks during the laying of the foundation stone for the construction of JNIA Terminal Three, which is expected to significantly expand the capacity of Tanzania’s biggest and busiest airport.

President Kikwete expressed his disgust at how easily drug kingpins were using local airports. “I wonder how drugs go through our airports unnoticed only to be seized outside the country,” he said. “What is it that lacks at our airports? I’m not happy with this situation and how the ministry and the airports authority are handling this issue.”

President Kikwete said he had been directing the relevant officials to improve security at all airports in the country, to no avail.

In the past month, three Tanzanian women and a man have been arrested at Hong Kong airport for drug trafficking. One of the women had swallowed 43 capsules and is reported to have left from JNIA airport. Another, who had 40 pellets, departed from Zanzibar International Airport. They face a minimum of eight years in jail in prison.

Drug dealers seemingly prefer now using the Zanzibar airport to ferry the drugs.

Yesterday, Head of the Anti-Narcotics Unit Godfrey Nzowa said drug dealers are constantly changing their mode of operation but information they receive from local sources and international agencies has helped them keep the traffickers on their toes.

Security checks in the major airports has been tightened to scare off the drug traffickers. “We know their movements more than ever before and we are tracking every step they take,” Mr Nzowa told The Citizen on Sunday. “We are determined to tame the vice and we are on the verge of finishing drug dealers.”