Tanzanian police arrest 80 in ongoing narcotics crackdown

Tanzanian police said Tuesday that 80 suspects were arrested for alleged involvement in narcotics use, trafficking and trade.

Charles Mkumbo, Arusha Regional Police Commander, told reporters in the country's northern safari capital of Arusha that one police officer was among the 80 people arrested in a special crackdown carried out across the region.

He said that the arrest of D/CPL Zakayo who is now being interrogated by his office for allegedly soliciting bribe from drug dealers during the crackdown.

According to Mkumbo, the police officer was arrested following a month long crackdown carried out by the police force.

"During the crackdown it came to our attention that Zakayo was going round blackmail people so that he could cash in from the cleanup," the regional police chief explained.

Mkumbo added that during the similar crackdown, the force nabbed 14 people for being in possession of 167 pellets of Heroin.

According to the regional commander, the crackdown also yielded the arrest of 12 suspects over the possession of 33 kilograms of khat.

Detailing further on the one-month extensive search, Mkumbo said his force netted 54 suspects over the possession of 3,845 rolls of marijuana.

The suspects have since been charged at different courts in the region, according to Mkumbo.

The police boss was not ready to disclose to the press the value of the narcotics, neither was he ready to unveil the identities of the suspects for fear of tempering with the on-going investigations.

The war on drugs has in the country continues to gain momentum few days after the Tanzanian President John Magufuli waged war against narcotics, directing the national security and defence forces to apprehend all suspects irrespective of their status. Endit