Drug dealers discover new way of trafficking: official

Drug dealers have discovered a new way of trafficking illicit drugs through Tanzania's Julius Nyerere International Airport (JNIA) by sending them as parcels through various courier companies, a senior official said on Wednesday.

Deputy Minister for Transport Charles Tizeba told members of Parliamentary Committee on Infrastructure on a visit to the airport that authorities at the airport have seized eight parcels which contained narcotics in the past one week.

Tizeba said seven suspects have been arrested in connection with the parcels, adding that the owner of the eighth parcel is still at large.

He said in one of the seized parcels that was being airlifted to Namibia, it indicated that the parcel contained a biology book but when inspected it was found that a sizable amount of heroin was tucked in the pages of the book.

Tizeba added that the drug dealers were also using parcels of sandals and tea bags to traffic the drugs, adding that most of the parcels containing the drugs were destined to West African countries.

"How can someone send a pair of sandals to Nigeria or a tea bag to Namibia? This is what raised the alarm to our officials at the airport," he said.

"As we have beefed up the war against narcotics, drug dealers are also trying to outsmart us but I can assure you we will triumph in this war."

On Tuesday, Tanzanian anti-narcotics authorities intercepted an Iranian-registered vessel carrying 201 kg of heroin worth about 5 million U.S. dollars.

Xinhua