Reject foreign devils, local drug pals

DAR ES SALAAM: WHEN evil can no longer be shocked by decency, it turns to the dead. Yes, you read that right.

As if trafficking narcotics was not already vile, heartless criminals have now taken their depravity to grotesque new depths and that is by desecrating the dead.

According to Tanzania’s Drug Control and Enforcement Authority (DCEA) last week, drug traffickers are exploiting the bodies of deceased Tanzanians who pass away abroad.

In a chilling tactic, they remove the brain from a corpse and stuff the skull with illicit drugs before stitching the head back up, fooling both mourners and customs officers.

If this sounds like something out of a horror movie, that is because it is: A real-life nightmare being staged at our borders, airports and funeral homes. This is not just inhuman. It is monstrous.

It is a blasphemy against culture, faith and basic decency. No parent should have to grieve a child twice, first in death and then in disgrace.

The DCEA’s warning to families receiving the remains of loved ones from abroad is sombre but necessary: Be vigilant, or risk being implicated in a criminal enterprise. This is not just a family affair anymore, it is a national emergency.

And to the syndicates masterminding this, know this: You are not smugglers, you are body snatchers, abusers of grief and murderers of morality.

If this is the best the drug trade can offer, it is not clever, it is criminal rot, wrapped in cotton wool.

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We must also shine the same harsh light on any foreign nationals using our country as a playground for narcotic enterprise. Tanzania is a land of peace, not a hub for poison peddlers.

If you are a foreigner found smuggling or trafficking drugs, there should be no second chances, no polite deportations.

The Immigration Department and the DCEA must crack down without mercy.

Let there be no sanctuary for those who come bearing addiction and despair in their suitcases. Closer to home, the scandal bubbling from Sinza in Dar es Salaam is equally shameful.

Baking biscuits laced with cannabis and selling them to unsuspecting customers is not entrepreneurship, it is entrapment.

These drugged snacks are not harmless treats; they are ticking time bombs, corrupting the minds of our youth and weakening the limbs of our workforce.

These so-called ‘bakers’ must be stopped, named, shamed and if their wealth has been amassed through this criminality, nationalised.

Let it serve the rehabilitation of those they have harmed. Our message to the public is clear: Silence is complicity. If you know them, kindly report them. If you see them, kindly expose them.

Let us return dignity to the dead, justice to the streets and hope to the living.

Because no nation ever thrived with its people stoned, its youth sedated and its corpses hijacked for crime. Enough is enough. Let Tanzania stand firm and fight back.