DAR ES SALAAM: Man arrested with Sh63m drug haul in his stomach

Dar es Salaam. Special task force officers at Julius Nyerere International Airport have arrested a 39 year-old Tanzanian carrying about 83 heroine-filled capsules worth over Sh63 million in his stomach.

The suspect, a resident of Tabata Liwiti, Dar es Salaam, was arrested on Sunday at around 2pm as he was about to board an Ethiopian airline flight to Addis Ababa where he was to take another flight to China and Hong Kong.

“The special task force officers suspected him and detained him at the airport, by morning yesterday he had released 83 pellets. We suspect he still has more capsules in his stomach,” said Anti-drugs Unit (ADU) senior assistant of police, Godfrey Nzowa.

This comes as a second incident within a weekend as last Friday two women were arrested at the same airport carrying 187 heroine-filled capsules worth Sh135 million in their stomachs.

This is one of many such cases to occur recently; Ms Mariamu Hamad Makuhani, 29, had reportedly released 122 capsules worth Sh90 million by noon on Friday, while another suspect Hadija Shomari had released 65 pellets worth Sh45 million.

On December 4, the task-force officials detained a Sierra Leonean who carried some 1.5 kilograms of cocaine in his stomach worth Sh80 million.

Abdu Koroma, 33, was arrested on his arrival from Brazil aboard an Ethiopian Airline flight after security officers became suspicious of the way he carried himself.

Mr Nzowa attributed the increasing number of arrests to the renewed strategy to fight drug trafficking and honesty in the part of airport officials.

THE CITIZEN TANZANIA: