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Police confiscate over 10 tons of marijuana in northern Tanzania

Xinhua, June 7, 2015 Adjust font size:

Police in northern Tanzania on Saturday announced to have confiscated 12.4 tons of marijuana, the biggest seizure of the illicit drug of the year in the East African nation.

Arusha Regional Police Chief Liberatus Sabas told reporters here that the seizure is part of their commitment to freeing the country from narcotics and drugs.

"This is a result of collective effort made by the police force, Anti-Narcotics Unit and other security agencies," Sabas said.

In the five-day marijuana crackdown operation, police also managed to clear more than 15 acres of cannabis farms on the slopes of Mount Meru, the second tallest peak in Tanzania after Mount Kilimanjaro.

"We have seized 124 bags of marijuana," Sabas said, without divulging the actual value of the cannabis.

A number of vehicles loaded with bags of marijuana were seen parked at the Arusha regional central police station.

"Some of the marijuana bags were seized hidden nearby marijuana farms and others were seized en-route to the market outlets," the regional police chief said, describing the consignment as the biggest seizure of the year.

"We are still hunting for the owners of the consignments and farms, as in some areas, maize farms were found mixed with the cannabis plants," he said.

"In some areas, we faced resistance from the drug farmers, but we managed to contain the situation," he said.

Arusha is one of the key marijuana producing areas in Tanzania and its market is in the country's major cities and neighboring Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia and Sudan.

A United Nations report said that Tanzania ranked fourth in the world as a producer of dried marijuana. Endi