State attorney arrested over manipulation of drug cases

Dar es Salaam. A state attorney was arrested in Arusha last week as authorities now target government lawyers and judiciary officials in the renewed fight against the drug trade.

Officers from the newly constituted Drug Control and Enforcement Authority (DCEA) on Monday arrested and questioned the state attorney. The Citizen cannot name the suspect at this juncture for legal reasons.

Reliable sources told The Citizen that the attorney had been on detectives’ radar in recent years in connection with allegations of deliberately mishandling drug cases to aid suspects.

Five DCEA officers who had travelled from Dar es Salaam pounced on the lawyer on Boma Road, near the Clock Tower, and took him to the office of the regional police boss where he was questioned.

He initially attempted to resist arrest by locking himself in his office, but later surrendered and was driven away at around 11am. He was questioned for three hours at the regional police headquarters.

The DCEA detectives were apparently under instructions to ferry the suspect to Dar es Salaam for further questioning but the mission aborted when the Attorney General’s Chambers intervened.

The state attorney in charge of Arusha told the arresting officers that they could not travel with the suspect to Dar es Salaam because the arrest of any state lawyer had to be sanctioned by the Attorney General.

Another state attorney based in Arusha later told The Citizen that the suspect was released after committing himself in writing that he would report at DCEA headquarters after the conclusion of an election petition in which he was representing the AG.

He is one of two lead state attorneys in an appeal lodged against the nullification of the outcome of a parliamentary election in Arusha Region.

The DCEA is investigating how Section 91 (1) of the Criminal Procedure Act (CPA) was applied to discontinue drug cases in court by entering a nolle prosequi (formal declaration by the Director of Public Prosecutions that the case is being dropped) .

The law empowers the DPP to discontinue, on behalf of the State, criminal proceedings at any stage before the court delivers judgment.

Sources in Arusha say that at least ten drug cases were questionably dropped despite the existence of watertight evidence against the accused. In some instances, a nolle prosequi was entered in cases that were still under police investigation.

Neither the Attorney General nor the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) were available to comment yesterday despite several attempts to reach them by telephone and SMS.

But DCEA Commissioner General Rogers Sianga neither confirmed nor denied that a state attorney had been arrested, only saying that he had previously vowed that nobody would be spared in the war against drug trafficking in the country.

“We are working on many fronts and I may not be in a position to reveal what we are doing or are planning to do but you may recall my earlier promise that no stone will be left unturned,” he told The Citizen.

Mr Sianga said earlier this month that judges, magistrates and state lawyers who deliberately mishandle drug cases to the advantage of suspects would be investigated, adding that he would hand over their names to the Chief Justice and AG for further action.

Among allegations levelled against the state attorney arrested in Arusha is failure to exercise due diligence in drafting proper charges against suspected drug traffickers.

He reportedly charged two Tanzanians of Asian origin with possession of heroin instead of trafficking in the substance, which made it possible for them to be released on bail.

Before the Drugs and Preventions of Illicit Trafficking and Drugs Act was repealed, the offence of possessing narcotic drugs was bailable. However, any offence related to the trafficking of drugs worth more Sh10 million was not.

In May 2014, police in Arusha twice accused the state attorney prosecuting a drug trafficking case against Mr Dharam Patel, 29, and Mr Nivan Patel, 20, of attempting to change charges against the suspects without consulting them (police).

The duo were allegedly arrested in April 2014 with 173 sachets of heroin and 300 rolls of bhang worth over Sh10 million.

They were released on bail when the lesser charge of possessing drugs was preferred against them.

The case was later dropped, with the prosecutors informing the court that the State was no longer interested in pursuing it.