TBS conducts crackdown on second hand clothes at an Arusha market

Arusha. The Tanzania Bureau of Standards (TBS) has on Tuesday, April 16, conducted an impromptu operation at Krokoni Market, which is famous for second hand clothes, and seized garments of poor quality as well as banned outfits on the grounds that they can undermine human health.

The crackdown was led by TBS officers from the headquarters in Dar es Salaam, Northern Zone, who were accompanied by uniformed and plainclothes police officers.

The sting operation was conducted such that the officers surrounded the market before moving in, a technique that enabled them to seize a huge consignment of second hand clothes deemed unfit.

TBS Public Relations manager Roida Andusamile said the operation was the implementation of the law to protect people’s health from use of substandard clothes, particularly the banned outfits.

She said traders were supposed to be keen on types of clothes they bought for resale, and that they should carefully read the guiding law and regulations to avoid incurring loss.

“Traders have the obligation of cooperating with the government in ensuring that banned clothes, particularly underwear and towels, do not enter the market so to help buyers avoid contracting diseases, as it is very expensive to treat a disease,” said Ms Andusamile.

A TBS inspector from the head office, Mr Lucas Gwila, said inspections of products in markets were a normal procedure of implementing the law, as they are aimed to protect consumers from harmful matters.

“In this market, we have impounded products of low quality that do not meet Standard No. 758 of 2013. Among the seized products are underwears and night dresses and pajamas.

“We keep urging buyers and traders to stop using banned clothes for the safety of their health,” said Mr Gwila.

One of the traders at the market, Mr Joseph Shirima, said more awareness was needed to be raised among stakeholders in order to help them avoid losses.

“Sometimes we don’t know what is inside the bundle that we buy. When you open, it is then you realise that the garments are of mixed nature, what do you do in such instance?” he wondered.