Addressing journalists in Dar es Salaam,
the Permanent Secretary (PS) to MNRT, Dr Adelhelm Meru, said the
suspects claimed that the logs were brought from Zambia and the
supporting documents were still at the offices of the Tanzania Revenue
Authority (TRA) border post of Tunduma.
“We (government) have discovered
existence of a clandestine network of crooked individuals inclined to
continue harvesting the forest resources using fake export documents.
Even if the claimed documents are
available, export of logs is prohibited. All individuals behind the scam
will be apprehended for appropriate legal action,” Mr Meru explained.
He said communication with TRA office in Tunduma had been done to
inquire for the alleged documents (if any) to pave way for total
exposure of the syndicate under the rule of law.
It has been established that the logs
were harvested indiscriminately in various places in the country
especially in Mbeya, Ruvuma and elsewhere in collaboration with
untrustworthy government officials who assist in preparation of fake
documents for export.
“Today we are here with the Deputy High
Commissioner of Zambia to Tanzania, Madam Elizabeth Phiri who has
confirmed beyond reasonable doubt that the logs were not coming from
Zambia as her country allowed export of processed timber and not logs.
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