ARUSHA, Tanzania, June 21, (Xinhua) -- Tanzania's Drug Control and Enforcement Authority (DCEA) on Wednesday said it had arrested 20 people and seized 168 bags of marijuana in northern district of Arumeru during a one-week operation.
The suspects were arrested in one of the notorious villages for growing marijuana on the slopes of Mount Meru, the second after Mount Kilimanjaro.
Fredrick Kibute, DCEA's intelligence commissioner, said his office in collaboration with other security agencies such as the National Service managed to accomplish the one-week operation on Wednesday morning.
He said that they managed to arrest the suspects after being tipped off by good citizens on large consignment of cannabis.
According Kibute, all the 20 suspects are from a remote village of Losinoni, which is popular for growing marijuana in Arusha Region.
"It was a very hard task due to geographical location of the village as it's located in the mountainous and sloppy areas on the slopes of Mount Meru," he said.
He, however warned the villagers to refrain from growing marijuana, one of the prohibited crops in Tanzania.
Since August last year, authorities in Arumeru launched operation against marijuana farming, transporting and selling.
So far, 22 villages have declared to stop the business and instead started venturing into maize, sunflower and pyrethrum farming because of good climatic conditions and soil.
