Moshi/Rombo. Two people are in police custody in Rombo District, Kilimanjaro Region, after they were allegedly caught ferrying 430 kilos of illicit drugs (khat) in a vehicle bearing government registration numbers.
The police say the vehicle was found with plate number STK 5211 and that it was being used by the suspects before it was intercepted The owner of the car with that registration number is said to be a worker at the Head Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) in the national capital Dodoma - and is being sought by the police for questioning.
The Kilimanjaro Regional Police Commander, Simon Maigwa, confirmed the incident yesterday and that two suspects are being held by the police for allegedly transporting the illicit drug by using a vehicle with the government number plate.
However, the RPC stated that the vehicle once belonged to the government, but was publicly auctioned and that the suspects were using the goverment registration number so that they would get away with the crime. The khat was sourced from Kenya and was been taken to Singida Region.
But, the police declined to divulge details of the ownership of the vehicle.
Sources from the police in Dodoma Moshi and Rombo districts claimed that the intercepted vehicle, a Toyota Land Cruiser, is now owned by a government worker, who is said to have bought it in the auction. The Citizen could not immediately establish why the vehicle was still using government registration number plates.
But the suspects were arrested on January 30, 2022 at between 8am and 9am in Mamsera Village, where they were found with 880 bundles of khat.
“Preliminary investigations showed that windows of the vehicle were marked with the registration number STJ 1972 which is different from the number STK 5211 on the registration plates on the vehicle,” the sources said.
“Also, in the vehicle there was found a card showing that the car’s registration number is T404 CMF. Enquires at the Tanzania Revenue Authority (TRA), revealed that the owner of the vehicle was someone who works in the DPP Office, and who had bought it the public auction oa government vehicles,” the source further said.
According to the sources, after the suspects were arrested inside the vehicle in Rombo District, the police now want the owner of the car to present himself/herself for police questioning. In Tanzania, growing and selling khat is a crime.
Khat is a plant-based stimulant drug that’s legal in Kenya, Ethiopia, Uganda and Djibouti, where it is a source of livelihoods as a major cash crop, earning farmers and traders good income.
Kenya earns a minimum of $400,000 a day in khat exports, with Somalia as Kenya’s key trading partner. Khat is illegal in Rwanda, where it is classified as a narcotic and listed among other banned psychotropic substances.
Anyone convicted for possession of khat faces a penalty of between seven years and life imprisonment and a fine of RWF30m ($30 000).
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