Tea vendor busted in Dar drug sting

DAR ES SALAAM: TO a casual observer, he appeared like any other street tea vendor, carrying flasks and cups as he moved through city streets in search of customers.

Mr Jefferson Kilonzo Mwende, a Kenyan national, conducted his regular activities at Sinza in Dar es Salaam.

Often seen riding a bodaboda, he served tea to passers-by, blending seamlessly into the daily rhythm of the neighbourhood.

However, the Drug Control and Enforcement Authority (DCEA) has now revealed that Mr Mwende was living a double life, as a tea vendorcum-drug dealer suspect.

Speaking at a press conference in Dar es Salaam yesterday, DCEA’s Commissioner General Aretas Lyimo said Mr Mwende was recently arrested while in possession of 131.88 grammes of heroin.

“In an operation conducted at Sinza C, Bustani Street, Plot Number 16, Jefferson Kilonzo Mwende (35) was arrested,” said DCEA Commissioner General Lyimo.

“The suspect has been living in Tanzania since 2023 and pretended to sell tea as a cover for his drug trafficking activities.”

Commissioner General Lyimo said the suspect’s lifestyle had raised suspicion among residents.

“Under normal circumstances, a foreigner cannot enter the country, engage in street tea vending and at the same time live a luxurious life. This raised serious concerns,” he said.

Explaining how the suspect was apprehended, the Commissioner General said members of the public tipped off the authority after becoming suspicious of Mr Mwende’s conduct.

“It was hard to believe that someone selling milk tea on the streets could afford such a lifestyle. After receiving the information, we conducted an operation and searched his house, where heroin was recovered,” he said.

He thanked members of the public for their cooperation and urged them to continue providing information to help keep the country free from illicit drugs. Mr Mwende’s arrest was part of a month-long operation conducted in last December, during which DCEA, in collaboration with other security agencies, seized a total of 9,689.8 kilogrammes of various illegal drugs, ten motor vehicles and three cars.

A total of 66 suspects were arrested in connection with drug trafficking. Elaborating on other incidents, Commissioner General Lyimo said that at Wailes Street in Temeke, Dar es Salaam, authorities seized 20 packets of skunk weed weighing 20.03 kilogrammes, which had been concealed inside a bale of second-hand clothes and hidden in a bus make Scania, belonging to King Masai Tours, bearing Mozambican registration number AAM 297 CA.

The bus operates on the Nampula–Tanzania route.

Suspects arrested in connection with the incident are Amasha Iddi Mrisho (40), a resident of Buza, Dar es Salaam, and Seleman Juma Ally (32), a Mozambican national.

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In a separate incident at Majoka Street in Kinyerezi, Ilala District, suspects Erick Ernest Ndagwa (32), Paul Blass Henry (34) and Tido Emmanuel Mkude (35) were arrested while in possession of 193.66 kilogrammes of cannabis, which was being transported from Morogoro to Dar es Salaam.

Meanwhile, following inspections conducted at cargo transport companies in Dar es Salaam, 20 packages of khat weighing 9.54 kilogrammes were seized after being disguised as dried neem leaves.

The drugs were being transported from Kenya to Australia. Similarly, through various operations conducted in the regions of Mwanza, Shinyanga, Morogoro, Tanga, Lindi, Kilimanjaro, Njombe, Kigoma and Arusha, authorities seized 37.34 grammes of heroin, 1.015 kilogrammes of skunk, 7,969.98 kilogrammes of cannabis and 1,363.701 kilogrammes of khat, and destroyed 14 acres of cannabis farms.

DCEA has urged members of the public to continue providing information on indicators of illicit drug trafficking and to remain vigilant by avoiding the transportation of consignments whose contents they do not know.

The Authority said it will continue conducting nationwide operations and take stern legal action against drug trafficking offenders.