Dar es Salaam: Police impound 55,500 kilos of narcos

Written by ABDULWAKIL SAIBOKO 

THE police issued its annual report showing an increase in the volume of impounded narcotic drugs and a sharp rise in the number of arrested illegal immigrants.

 The Acting Director of Criminal Investigation (ACP), Mr Issaya Mngulu, told reporters in Dar es Salaam that the amount of illicit drugs impounded has gone up this year despite the decrease in cases of illicit drugs.

"This year we have impounded a bigger amount of narcotic drugs due to increased operations by police and increased cooperation from various stakeholders. A total of 55,499 kilos were confiscated and 6,933 suspects arrested," he noted.

Mr Mngulu said the quantity was bigger compared to last year's where 17,776 kilos were seized and 211 suspects arrested. He said that to a larger extent the circulation of industrial illicit drugs such as heroin, cocaine, mandrax and morphine have been controlled.

Mr Mngulu noted that this year, however, there have been fewer incidents where only 482 cases were reported compared to the 565 reported last year. "We are not yet satisfied with the achievements made so far. We will increase operations in airports, harbours and in all border posts," he stressed.

Commenting on the illegal immigrants arrested in the course of the year, Mr Mngulu said 1,714 individuals were arrested while trying to get into the country and some of them attempting to sneak into neighbouring countries through Tanzania.

"There has been an increase of illegal immigrants this year. They are mainly coming from Somalia, Ethiopia, Bangladesh and Pakistan. Most of them have been escaping insecurity at home," he explained. Mr Mngulu attributed the achievement in the arrests to the support extended to police by various stakeholders under the spirit of community police.

He named the regions where illegal migrants were arrested with the numbers in brackets as including, Mbeya (525), Kilimanjaro (488), Kigoma (157), Njombe (103), Kagera (83), Tanga (31) and Iringa (23). The report also shows a slight drop in the criminal cases reported to police from 69,678 last year to 66,255 this year accounting for 4.9 per cent decrease.

It also shows that major traffic accidents reported in the course of the years have gone down from 22,208 last year to 21,531 this year while minor accidents have increased from 397,292 to 548,600. "Despite the decrease, fatal road accidents have increased to 3,144 from the 3,012 reported last year.

This is an increase of 132 accidents or 4.3 per cent. "The accidents claimed 3,655 lives and a total of 18,348 people were injured. In the same period last year 3,682 people died and 19,238 were injured," added the acting DCI.

Source: Daily News (21/12/2012): http://dailynews.co.tz/index.php/local-news/12892-police-impound-55-500-kilos-of-narcos