ANOTHER 'DRUG MULE' ARRESTED

Julius Nyerere International Airport (JNIA).PHOTO|FILE 

Posted  Wednesday, January 8   2014 at  00:00

Dar es Salaam. Police have arrested a woman as she was about to fly out with a substantial amount of heroin in her stomach.

The 39-year-old suspect was arrested on Monday at Julius Nyerere International Airport (JNIA), and it was later discovered that she had swallowed at least 63 pellets of heroin with a street value of Sh48 million, the head of the Police Anti-Drugs Unit, Mr Godfrey Nzowa, said yesterday.

The woman, who had a Tanzanian passport, was about to board a flight to Macau, China, when she aroused the suspicion of anti-drugs personnel.

Mr Nzowa said she was plucked out of the queue and subjected to extensive checks, which established that she had a “massive” amount of a narcotic substance in her stomach.

“She had by 6pm today (yesterday), passed 63 pellets of heroin. She is being closely monitored because she still has several pellets in her body,” he said, adding that the amount she had released had a street value of Sh48 million.

Preliminary investigations have established that the suspect lives in Mbagala, Dar es Salaam, and held a passport issued on October 22, 2013.

Transport minister Harrison Mwakyembe made a surprise visit to JNIA following the arrest, and said measures being taken to curb drug smuggling through Tanzania’s biggest and busiest airport were bearing fruit.

Dr Mwakyembe told journalists that arrests made at JNIA in recent months showed that efforts to stop traffickers from using the airport as a conduit for drugs were bearing fruit.

“This latest arrest is testimony to improved law enforcement at the airport. Screening should be tightened further at all our airports. We want 2014 be a better year as far as the image of our country is concerned,” he said.

The minister added that between October and December last year, five people were arrested at JNIA for attempting to smuggle drugs through the airport.

Thirteen others were taken into custody during the same period on suspicion of attempting to smuggle out gemstones and other minerals, he said.

Two women were arrested at JNIA last month with 187 pellets of heroin in their stomachs. It was estimated that the haul had a street value of Sh135 million.

Monday’s arrest came barely a week after a suspected Nigerian drug trafficker was seized at JNIA. He passed 71 heroin pellets with a street value of Sh54 million in the three days he spent in police custody.

Mr Nzowa said there has in recent years been a noticeable trend of international drug trafficking rings to use women in the illegal trade in the belief that they were less likely to attract suspicion than men.

Drug barons were now using pregnant women as drug mules because it was not advisable to subject them to X-ray scanning and similar tests, he added.

“Drug traffickers keep changing their tactics in their quest to keep one step ahead of law enforcement organs. However, reliable intelligence from both inside and outside the country has kept us on their heels. This explains the success we have had in recent months.”
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