Govt: Dangerous chemicals seized
What you need to know:
The vehicle transporting illegal consigment found to have no legal documents to ferry the chemicals
Mwanza. The Drugs Control and Enforcement Authority (DCEA) has seized 50,000 litres of precursor chemicals suspected to be ethyl alcohol.
A press statement issued yesterday by the Authority’s commissioner for inspections and forensic sciences, Ms Bertha Mamuya, the amount was seized on December 13 at Kigongo Ferry in Misungwi District in the city.
She said the consignment was being destined for Kinshasa in the Democratic Republic of Congo and was being transported by Mwanza Lake Line Industries Company using a vehicle owned by Mwanza-based Mhili Company.
“The vehicle was held after it was established that there were no legal documents allowing it to transport the chemicals. This was a violation of the Industrial and Consumer Chemicals Act No 3 of 2003 and the Drugs Control and Enforcement Act of 2015, which was amended in 2017,” said Ms Mamuya.
She alleged that after learning that the firm had violated procedures and regulations of transporting the chemicals, on December 14, it presented before the Chief Government Chemist applications for permits to transport the chemicals, with the full knowledge that the vehicle and the chemicals had been seized.
According to her, preliminary investigations showed that the company in question submitted false information to various regulatory bodies, including the amount of chemicals to be shipped in order to obtain the permits.
“DCEA in collaboration with other authorities is conducting further investigations about the company and upon completion, legal action would be taken against those who were involved,” noted Ms Mamuya.
