Huge marijuana haul seized in Arumeru
Dar es Salaam. Officials of the Drug Control and Enforcement Authority (DCEA) seized 500 bags of marijuana in a Wednesday night operation at Lenglong Village in Arumeru District, Arusha Region.
A special task force in collaboration with the Arumeru district authorities also seized six bags of marijuana seeds at the village.
DCEA Commissioner for Intelligence, Fredrick Kibuta, told The Citizen that almost every household searched during the operation was found to have bags of marijuana as heads of the families went into hiding.
“We found no occupiers and their houses were locked. It appears that all had gone into hiding. We found an old woman in one household only and she had no idea of what was going on,” said Mr Kibuta.
This is the largest amount of cannabis to be seized in a single operation in recent times in Tanzania.
A fortnight ago, the DCEA officials impounded 168 bags of bhang at Engedeko Village in the district.
Many of the Arumeru District villages are infamous for marijuana and khat cultivation. The residents have turned it their major economic activity.
He added: “We started by gathering intelligence on where and how the illicit business is conducted and discovered that there was a huge quantity of harvested and that which was yet to be harvested in the village. The problem with this village is that they have turned bhang farming as part and parcel of their lives.
“Bhang cultivation at that village is done openly in their farms. They farm bhang the same way as you cultivate maize outside your house,” he said.
According to the commissioner, authorities were having difficult time to control the marijuana and khat farming in the area because most of the village and ward leaders were part of the business.
“Nearly all local leaders here are engaging in marijuana farming. We found about 16 bags of marijuana in the house of a local leader and the marijuana farm just outside the house,” he noted.
Arumeru District Commissioner Alexander Mnyeti confirmed the seizure yesterday, saying the operation has helped them discover new tactics criminals use to hide their hauls.
“We are progressing well, but we are learning that residents of other districts living close to ours are helping their accomplices in our district to hide marijuana as the crackdown on bhang and khat farming intensifies. “One of the people we arrested, for instance, had hidden his consignment at his accomplice living just on the side of Monduli District,” he said. Most of marijuana that was being supplied throughout the country and ruin many of our youth originated in Arumeru, said Mr Mnyeti.
