Police surround CUF Zanzibar headquarters

What you need to know:

  • But the party’s leadership committee chairman Mr Julius Mtatiro wrote in his Facebook page that the law enforcers planned to forcefully occupy the office or plant dangerous items that would lead to arresting the party leaders.

Zanzibar. Police in Zanzibar are surrounding the Civic United Front (CUF) headquarters since Sunday over what the law enforcers described as security concerns.

But the party’s leadership committee chairman Mr Julius Mtatiro wrote in his Facebook page that the law enforcers planned to forcefully occupy the office or plant dangerous items that would lead to arresting the party leaders.

Urban West regional police commander Mr Hassan Nassir Ali confirmed to The Citizen Sunday night (February 18) that the offices of the second largest opposition political party in the country were under police surveillance following “signs of some people committing crimes inside the offices located at Mtendeni, Unguja.”

“Secondly, we want to inspect the offices to confirm what is being said and plan for the way forward.”

But in his report, Mr Mtatiro said the armed police raided the CUF headquarters since 6pm probably for two agendas.

“Firstly, they want to occupy the headquarters by force until Monday (today) when the offices will be handed to ‘someone’. Secondly, it’s a strategy to get access to the buildings and plant dangerous items and later arrest CUF leaders in connection to the planted properties. We are closely following this issue,” he added.