Passenger motorcycles normally preferred by people as the cheapest and a fast means of transport in this tourist northern city, but ignored by highway police patrols as innocent of illicit inter-state trade, have shown their ugly face as accomplices in cross-border drug trade between Kenya and Tanzania.
Arusha Regional Police Commander(RPC), Liberatus Sabas
The Arusha Regional Police Commander(RPC), Liberatus Sabas revealed that, the motorcycles that coincidentally also earned their ‘Boda-Boda’ nickname from the term ‘Border,’ have become notorious in using non-prescribed (panya) routes in avoiding border stations and police checks to ferry their illegal merchandise from Tanzania into Kenya and back.
The police have just impounded two motorcycles that had been loaded with six sacks of cannabis on transit to Kenya. “The riders simply ditched their vehicles and disappeared into the bush,” stated Commander Sabas.
The drug consignment reportedly weighing close to 600 kilogrammes had been tightly packed into six sacks, each bike carrying three hundred kg.
The illicit cargo was impounded at Longido township, just 20 kilometres from the Namanga Border point separating Kenya and Tanzania.
The bikes were of the cheap Chinese brands of ‘SKYGO” and ‘SANLIG’ with registration numbers of T-442 AND and T-869 BWF respectively but the two persons, who were allegedly driving them ‘melted into thin air,’ as per police claims.
In a different incident, the police here have also impounded 75 kilogrammes of an intoxicating weed (Khat) that was being transported from Arusha to Singida concealed in suitcases belonging to a lady identified as Esther Laurent Mombuli.
The drug-consignment was discovered at Duka-Bovu section of Monduli District, along the main Arusha-Dodoma road, where there is a police check point.
The Police have arrested the lady, who as reports go, is a resident of Mianzini area in Arusha City and was on her way to Singida using ordinary public transport but had crammed the ‘green drugs’ into the bags containing her clothing items just like any other ordinary passenger.
The challenge here is that, while Khat is forbidden in Tanzania, it is permitted across the border in Kenya and the conflicting laws find most users and law enforcers at a loss.
By YASINTA AMOS, Tanzania Daily News
Arusha Regional Police Commander(RPC), Liberatus Sabas
The Arusha Regional Police Commander(RPC), Liberatus Sabas revealed that, the motorcycles that coincidentally also earned their ‘Boda-Boda’ nickname from the term ‘Border,’ have become notorious in using non-prescribed (panya) routes in avoiding border stations and police checks to ferry their illegal merchandise from Tanzania into Kenya and back.
The police have just impounded two motorcycles that had been loaded with six sacks of cannabis on transit to Kenya. “The riders simply ditched their vehicles and disappeared into the bush,” stated Commander Sabas.
The drug consignment reportedly weighing close to 600 kilogrammes had been tightly packed into six sacks, each bike carrying three hundred kg.
The illicit cargo was impounded at Longido township, just 20 kilometres from the Namanga Border point separating Kenya and Tanzania.
The bikes were of the cheap Chinese brands of ‘SKYGO” and ‘SANLIG’ with registration numbers of T-442 AND and T-869 BWF respectively but the two persons, who were allegedly driving them ‘melted into thin air,’ as per police claims.
In a different incident, the police here have also impounded 75 kilogrammes of an intoxicating weed (Khat) that was being transported from Arusha to Singida concealed in suitcases belonging to a lady identified as Esther Laurent Mombuli.
The drug-consignment was discovered at Duka-Bovu section of Monduli District, along the main Arusha-Dodoma road, where there is a police check point.
The Police have arrested the lady, who as reports go, is a resident of Mianzini area in Arusha City and was on her way to Singida using ordinary public transport but had crammed the ‘green drugs’ into the bags containing her clothing items just like any other ordinary passenger.
The challenge here is that, while Khat is forbidden in Tanzania, it is permitted across the border in Kenya and the conflicting laws find most users and law enforcers at a loss.
By YASINTA AMOS, Tanzania Daily News
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