Ms Maimuna Amir after she was arrested at the Moi International Airport Mombasa yesterday evening. PHOTO| NMG
Dar es Salaam. Tanzania has written to Kenya, seeking details of a Tanzanian woman, Ms Maimuna Amir, who was
arrested on Sunday in Mombasa County over allegations of being found carrying 5.3kg of heroin worth Sh317.24 million.Mr James Kaji, the commissioner general for the Drug Control and Enforcement Authority (DCEA), told The Citizen yesterday that they heard the information from Kenyan media outlets but did not receive any details from Kenyan authorities.
Kenya’s Daily Nation reported on Sunday that Ms Amir was arrested by a multi-agency team at the Moi International Airport.
She travelled with the consignment from South Africa, through Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, hiding the substance in a false bottom and a false top of a suitcase she had.
“We’ve heard the reports from the media, but until now (yesterday) the Kenyan authorities have not communicated with us. We decided to write them through the proper channel (Ministry of Foreign Affairs), unfortunately they have not responded yet,” he said.
According to him, it was too early to say with certainty whether the woman was Tanzanian until DCEA obtains more details regarding her from the Kenyan government.
“She may hold a Tanzanian passport, but this alone does not justify that she is really from Tanzania. If we get her details, it will be easy for us to dig in and find her true identity,” he explained.
Kenyan police reports say the arrest of Ms Amir comes as detectives investigate a new drug trafficking route from Johannesburg through Addis Ababa to the Moi International Airport and then supplied in Mombasa and Nairobi.
Ms Amir makes a total of three Tanzanians being arrest- ed in Mombasa on accusation of trafficking heroin in February and March 2021.
In Febr ary, police arrested four people on the accusation of trafficking two kilos of heroin worth Ksh6 million where two of them were Tanzanian nationals, who were arrested within Mombasa town while the remaining two were Kenyans, who were arrested in Old Town Mombasa.
NMG media report says that the Tanzanians, Mr Said Ali Juma and his wife Mariam Shaaban, were apprehended before their accomplices Bwana Said Aboobakar, 53, and Mwanasomo Mohammed, 52 were found.
Even regarding the other two detainees, we hadn’t received any cooperation from Kenyan antidrug authorities. We just heard the arrest reports from the media,” Mr Kaji said.
Recently, Tanzania has been reporting the arrest of drug dealers in various locations. The DCEA boss said it was a result of strong control of drug trafficking.
“We have built a strong and efficient team to deal with drug traffickers. We are waiting for Kenyan government to cooperate so that we can deal with the culprits,” he said.
On March 9, 2021, the Anti-Drug Unit (ADU) police announced that it was holding four people, including a college student Allu Murugwa, 24, over allegations of being in possession of 31 kilos of heroin.
Police said they were tipped off the presence of the suspects on March 2, 2021 from law-abid- ing citizens. In September 2020, a food vendor, Ms Tatu Nassoro, was also arrested after allegedly being found in possession of 51 kilos and 67 pellets of heroin.
Ms Nassoro, a resident of Temeke Sandali, Veterinary Street, was arrested on September 7, 2020 as the ADU sought to dismantle a racket run by a suspected drug dealer Mukrim Michael.
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