IRINGA: 2 axed from Police, face bribery charge

By Happiness Matanji, The Citizen Correspondent. 

Two policemen in Iringa Region have been expelled from the force to pave the way for prosecution over soliciting a bribe from people whose relatives are facing charges of illegal possession of ivory.

Detective constables Denis Beatus and Karume Farija Kunga have been handed over to the Prevention and Combating of Corruption Bureau (PCCB).

According to the charge sheet, the two policemen and an official with the Iringa regional legal office demanded a Sh6million bribe from relatives of suspects facing a poaching case.

Last month three suspects, Abdul Abdallah, Patrick Raymond and Hamisi Solomoni, all residents of Masasi District in Mtwara Region, appeared before Iringa Resident Magistrate’s Court charged with illegal possession of 78 elephant tusks worth Sh186,680,344.

The trio are also facing charges of killing 39 elephants valued at Sh900,340,830.

The tusks were found after a high-speed chase involving people suspected to be poachers,the Police and good Samaritans at Ruaha Mbuyuni along the Iringa-Dar es Salaam highway.

Police had said the three suspects were ferrying the tusks from Masasi in Mtwara Region to Dar es Salaam. 

In November, Hong Kong authorities seized 500 ivory tusks from Tanzania worth $1.4 million (Sh2.24 billion).

The 500 pieces, weighing 1,300 kilogrammes, had been hidden in a shipping container that arrived in Hong Kong from Tanzania.

Police in Dar es Salaam arrested two Kenyans and a Tanzanian in November over unlawful possession of 214 elephant tusks and five mammal bones worth Sh2.1 billion. 

The suspects were arrested at Kimara Stop Over in Kinondoni District. 

Source: The Citizen (04/01/2013): http://www.thecitizen.co.tz/news/4-national-news/28028-2-axed-from-police-face-bribery-charge