Police seize, destroy 26 tons of marijuana in N. Tanzania

Police have seized and destroyed 26 tons of marijuana in a crackdown operation carried out on the slopes of Mount Meru, in northern Tanzania's region of Arusha, authorities said Friday.

Charles Mkumbo, Arusha Regional Police Commander, said here that the confiscation of those bags is a result of one-month crackdown operation in the region.

Mkumbo said 269 bags of marijuana were seized in different locations across Arumeru, the notorious district for marijuana farming in northern Tanzania.

This is the biggest seizure of the illicit drugs in recent years in the East African nation.

The regional police chief described the operation as successful and the seized bags of cannabis have been destroyed at the Muriet dumpsite, located a few kilometers from Arusha City Center.

"Most of the bags were found while left unattended by farmers and drug dealers in the area. Some of the of perpetrators managed to run away, but the operation is ongoing," the Mkumbo said.

Before getting into the operation, the official said police mapped the notorious area for producing marijuana in the area.

Mkumbo called on all people involved in marijuana farming to look for other ventures as police will leave no stone unturned.

Arusha is one of the key marijuana producing areas in Tanzania. Other regions in which the most cannabis is cultivated are Morogoro, Iringa, Tabora, Mara, Rukwa, Ruvuma, and Tanga.

Most of the marijuana grown in the country are illegally sold in major cities and as far as neighboring Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, and Sudan.

With a population of nearly 50 million, Tanzania ranked fourth in the world as a producer of dried marijuana as well as producing significant quantities of khat. Endit