Five sentenced to life imprisonment in landmark drug trafficking case

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Judge Mbagwa sentenced all five defendants to life in prison after hearing evidence from both sides, finding that the prosecution had established the accusations beyond a reasonable doubt.

Dar es Salaam. The High Court has sentenced five suspects to life imprisonment after they were convicted of trafficking 5,309.57 grammes of heroin and 894.28 grammes of cocaine.
The judgement was delivered on July 11, 2024, by Judge Awamu Mbagwa, who presided over criminal case number 58/2023.
Those sentenced include Muharami Abdallah, alias Chonji, Abdul Chumbi, Rehan Umande, Tanaka Mwakasafule, and Maliki Maunda.
Following the presentation of evidence from both sides, Judge Mbagwa sentenced all five defendants to life imprisonment, stating that the prosecution had proven the charges beyond reasonable doubt.
The defendants were accused of trafficking drugs contrary to Section 16(1)(b) of the Controlled Substances Act, as amended in 2012.
In the first charge, the defendants were alleged to have trafficked heroin worth over Sh265.47 million on October 21, 2014, in Magomeni Makanya, Kinondoni District, Dar Es Salaam.
In the second charge, on the same day and location, they were alleged to have trafficked cocaine worth over Sh62.59 million.
During the trial, the prosecution, led by five attorneys, including Senior State Attorney Saraji Iboru, presented ten witnesses and twelve exhibits, including three weighing scales, a Browning pistol with eight bullets, a chemist’s report, phones, a seizure certificate, and a forensic report with photo and video evidence.
According to the first prosecution witness, ACP Salmini Shelimo, on October 20, 2014, while working at the Anti-Narcotics Unit, she received information about a planned drug transaction. She reported this to her superior and later confirmed that the suspects were packaging drugs at a house in Magomeni Makanya.
The fifth witness testified that they had deployed assistants for routine anti-drug patrols planned in Kinondoni District, where they seized necessary equipment and conducted the operation in Kinondoni Manyanya.
It was reported that they received information while at the site at night that the suspects had begun packaging drugs in Magomeni Makanya.
Upon arrival, they found the door locked, and upon knocking, they were denied entry. When they eventually broke in, they found the first defendant (Chonji) peeking through a curtain, after which he alerted his colleagues inside.
The defendants were found inside, attempting to flee by jumping over a wall, prompting the police to forcibly break the front door to enter.
They apprehended the first defendant standing in the corridor with a Browning pistol loaded with eight bullets and subsequently arrested him and his four accomplices.
In the corridor, suspected drugs were found, leading to the summons of independent witnesses before searching.
According to the tenth witness, a police officer, the house where the defendants were alleged to have been arrested had two rooms, a bathroom, and a corridor where they found 15 packets in a cabinet.
The fifth witness claimed that the first defendant had keys and opened the cabinet, where they found the packets suspected to contain drugs.
The items mentioned were seized and sent to the Anti-Narcotics Unit, then to the Government Chemist Laboratory Agency (GCLA) for analysis, where it was confirmed that they were drugs.
During the arrests and searches, the eighth witness recorded crucial events, including using a Sony office camera.

Defence
Essentially, all five defendants denied the allegations, including being arrested in a house in Magomeni Makanya with drugs, signing the seizure certificate, and being taken to the ADU Kurasini office.
Chonji claimed he was arrested near Magomeni Kondoa, where he operated an M-Pesa shop, and was forcibly taken to the house. He admitted possessing various currencies, including Sh900,000, Euro 50, and $24,001, as well as a pistol.
He asserted that the funds were from the sale of electricity tokens and M-Pesa transactions and that he had US dollars for plans to open a foreign currency exchange shop where he was required to deposit Sh 50 million with the Bank of Tanzania (BoT) for approval.
The second defendant claimed he received a call from a critically ill friend on the day in question and was on his way to visit when he was detained and taken to the house, where he found the first and third defendants.
The third defendant told the court he was employed by Chonji as a guard in a single-storey building near the scene and was on duty inspecting water tanks. Upon his return, he was arrested and taken inside by police.
The fourth defendant told the court he was arrested in the parking area and dragged into the house, where he found the first, second, and third defendants. He had come to the area to park his car and was looking for a guard to hand over the keys.
The fifth defendant told the court he was arrested on October 20, 2014, while gambling and, after being detained, the police demanded Sh300,000 for his release, which he refused.
He remained in custody until October 24, 2014, when he was brought to court and charged with the other four.

Charges
Senior State Attorney Clara Charwe confirmed the charges were proven beyond reasonable doubt, stating that the prosecution brought a fourth witness who confirmed testing the suspected drugs in packets and confirmed they were narcotics.
She explained that the fourth witness detailed the procedures and the lab equipment used, providing evidence that the defendants were found with the alleged drugs.
Regarding complaints about the legality of the search due to the lack of a search warrant, she argued it was an emergency search under Section 42(1), not Section 38(3) of the Criminal Procedure Act.
She stated that although the defendants were not obligated to prove their innocence, they were required to bring witnesses to prove they were not at the scene.
Verdict
After hearing arguments from both sides, Judge Mbagwa decided on two main issues in the case: whether the defendants were found with 24 packets of suspected drugs and whether these packets were proven to contain narcotics.
Judge Mbagwa explained that the eighth witness had photographed and monitored the area during the search, presenting a video segment showing the first to fourth defendants at the scene and the search operation. He noted that the fifth witness provided the seizure certificate with the defendants’ signatures and thumbprints, despite their denials of being arrested at the house.
“After considering the evidence from both sides, I reject the defence’s claims and find that all five were found and arrested at the Magomeni Makanya house and were found with 24 packets of suspected narcotics,” he said.
The judge determined that the suspected narcotics found were indeed drugs, as confirmed by the court expert. He affirmed that the prosecution had proven the case beyond reasonable doubt and found all defendants guilty, sentencing them to life imprisonment as prescribed by law.
He also ordered the destruction of all seized drug packets by Section 46 of the Narcotics and Psychotropic Substances Control Act and the forfeiture of seized assets, keeping them under custody until further instructions.