At the time of seizure, police also arrested twelve foreigners found on board, eight of whom were said to be Iranians and the other four Pakistani nationals.
Marine Police and Port Unit Senior Assistant Commander Mboje Kanga said the dhow was apprehended by the Unit’s task force during routine patrol along the Indian Ocean coast. The Commander said in the preliminary investigations, all the 12 suspects claimed to be fishermen.
Police are yet to identify the port of origin of the vessel and where it was heading to admitting that language barrier is hampering the interrogation.
“We are yet to know where the suspects were coming from and where they were going because they claim to speak neither English nor Swahili,” the Commander explained.
He said that Marine Police Unit was working in collaboration with the government’s forensics department to identify the type and value of the impounded drugs.
“We can’t tell the actual value, we have to wait for expert analysis,” he said.
Speaking to journalists, Head of Anti-Narcotics Unit, Commissioner of Police Godfrey Nzowa, said the drugs are suspected to be heroin, based on the suspects’ nationalities where the drug is prevalent, but was careful to note that ‘we can only be sure after the lab results.”
He recounted that, while on routine patrol, police found the impounded vessel sailing with a flag that would identify its country of origin but it is suspected that vessel is from Iran and Dar es Salaam may have been its destination port.
The suspects remain in custody pending further investigation.
Trafficking cases have been on the rise in the past few years with Tanzania increasingly becoming a port of destination rather than a transit station. In response, the government has beefed up security at all the country’s entry ports.
Last year the government sacked four officials suspected of aiding drug traffickers to smuggle 150 kilos of drugs through the Julius Nyerere International Airport (JNIA).
In December, Police at the Kilimanjaro International Airport (KIA) arrested two foreign nationals alleged to be carrying 12.7 kilogrammes of drugs. Josiane Dede Creppy (25), a Togolese and Grace Teta (34), a Liberian, were arrested before boarding flights to Accra, Ghana and Cape Town, South Africa respectively.
A Dar es Salaam resident Salama Mzara was arrested last month (January 6) at Julius Nyerere International Airport when attempting to board Ethiopian Airline destined to Macao, China.
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