Anti-drugs
police have arrested a man believed to be the country’s most wanted
drug kingpin. Ali Khatibu Haji, popularly known as Shikuba, was arrested
at Julius Nyerere International Airport (JNIA) last Sunday after two
years of an intensive manhunt. The 44-year-old is considered one of the
most powerful and influential drug barons in Tanzania. He is said to be
the leader of a cartel operating principally in East Africa but with a
reach as far as China, Brazil, Canada, Japan, the United States and the
United Kingdom.
He
was charged last week with trafficking in a record 210 kilograms of
heroin worth around Sh10 billion. Police seized the drugs in Lindi in
January 2012 and have linked him with the haul. Shikuba reportedly fled
to South Africa the same day the drugs were seized and has since been in
hiding.
It
is not clear how he sneaked into the country and managed to get a new
passport but on February 28, the manhunt paid off. Investigators had
been on his trail in Dar es Salaam before cornering him at the airport
as he prepared to leave the country.
He
had been at the airport for an hour before officers from the anti-drugs
task force descended on him and arrested him at around 1 p.m. as he was
about to board a South African Airways flight. The head of the
Anti-Drugs Unit (ADU), Mr Godfrey Nzowa, told The Citizen on Sunday:
“It’s true that we got him. His arrest is a major milestone in our
efforts to nab the big fish. He is among the suspected powerful and
influential traffickers.”
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