Drug trafficking takes tolls on Tanzanians A Catholic priest in Hong Kong narrated on Friday how a Tanzanian national travelli...
Drug trafficking takes tolls on Tanzanians
A
Catholic priest in Hong Kong narrated on Friday how a Tanzanian
national travelling through the country’s international airport was
subjected to an X-ray scanning and forced to defecate as security
authorities tightened the noose on suspected drug traffickers.
The
priest, Father John Wotherspoon, a Hong Kong prison chaplain, said the
Tanzanian was put through the dehumanizing inspection following growing
concern of the big number of young travelers from Tanzania being caught
with drugs in Hong Kong.
Mr
Wotherspoon preaches to prisoners, including more than 200 Tanzanian
youth jailed there or awaiting completion of the hearing of drug
trafficking cases with which they were charged.
One
of the youths is apparently behind the recent letter published via
internet, in a personal confession revealing the names of some drug
kingpins in Dar es Salaam.
On
Friday, the priest said he met the unnamed Tanzanian in a hotel and
engaged in a chat , during which he narrated the ordeal he underwent at
the airport.
“I
asked him what it was like coming through Hong Kong airport with a
Tanzanian passport. He said they searched him from top to toe, x-rayed
him, then made him take some medicine which caused him to defecate…No
drugs were present, so customs staff simply apologised about the
incident and let him go,” wrote Fr Wotherspoon on his anti-drugs
campaign website http://www.v2catholic.com/.
Meanwhile, more Tanzanians continue to be arrested while trafficking in the drugs, confirming the seriousness of the matter.
In
the first incident, a Tanzanian national, Joseph Mackubi, 33, pleaded
guilty on Wednesday in Los Angeles, United States of America (USA) to a
charge of attempted importation of heroin, which carries a possible
sentence of up to 40 years in a federal prison.
City
News Service reports that Mackubi was arrested last October at Los
Angeles International Airport (LAX) trying to smuggle 0.8 kilogrammes of
heroin that was hidden in a nonworking laptop computer after arriving
on a flight from Tanzania via Nairobi and London.
The
drugs were found during a secondary customs inspection at LAX, when
agents noticed Mackubi’s laptop seemed “unusually heavy,’’ according to
an affidavit filed in support of the charges.
In
the second incident, 0.8kg of heroin was found in a consignment parcel
declared as a metal gear from Tanzania at Hong Kong International
Airport early on Thursday.
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