Drug dealers` wealth set to be confiscated

Drug dealers will have their ill-gotten wealth confiscated when the Money-Laundering Act recently passed by the National Assembly becomes operational.

By Judica Tarimo

 
Drug dealers will have their ill-gotten wealth confiscated when the Money-Laundering Act recently passed by the National Assembly becomes operational.

 

The law is expected to boost the effectiveness of the task force formed by the government to contain drug dealers and their syndicates in the country.

 

`Basically, effective operation of the Money-Laundering Act was supposed to start in January this year but it was delayed because some formalities are yet to be finalised,` Asheri Wimile, a state attorney with the Drug Control Commission, told reporters in Dar es Salaam yesterday.

 

`The Finance Minister has not gazetted the Act. Otherwise, once such procedures are completed, the law will become operational immediately,` he added.

 

A member of the commission, Christopher Shekiondo, said the task force was formed last year and is currently investigating 17 people suspected to be drug dealers.

 

`Once our investigations are complete, we will take the suspects to court. We will carry out our activities without fear or favour and without caring whether those involved are big shots or prominent businesspeople,`he said.

 

Meanwhile, Wimile explained that even the anti-drugs laws already in place provide for confiscation of wealth obtained from drug trafficking.

 

`This new law will just broaden the scope of the task force�s operations.

 

It will enable the anti-drugs squad to tackle the problem in a broader context,` noted Wimile, expressing the hope that the law would `give us good results as far as the anti-drugs campaign is concerned`.

 

The task force is chaired by Prime Minister Edward Lowassa and has members picked from the Prevention of Corruption Bureau, Drug Control Commission, Immigration Department, Customs Department and several other institutions.

 

Shekiondo said his commission has put in place security measures at the country�s borders and other entry points such as airports to put the importation of drugs in check.

 

`We have sealed so many loopholes that drug dealers are now diverting to neighbouring countries. In fact, the circulation of illicit drugs in our country has been reduced to a large extent,` he pointed out.

 

He explained that the task force had destroyed over 1,000 farms under bhang in different parts of the country � 485 farms in Morogoro Region, 340 in Arusha Region, 154 in Mara Region, 72 in Iringa Region, and 18 in Tanga Tanga Region.

 

`We have also seized several tonnes of khat. Generally, the campaign has been intensified to net drug dealers and disrupt their networks, dealing drug abuse in our country a devastating blow,` said Shekiondo.

 

Source: Guardian