DRUG PEDDLERS PERISH MID-AIR

Kwa kweli Mungu angekuwa anawachukua wahalifu hawa mapema kiasi hiki, kusingekuwa na tatizo la matumizi ya mihadarati kwa vijana wetu. From lists.tanzanet.com Two Tanzanians collapse aboard planes, die from drug overdose TWO Tanzanians have died in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, in the past two weeks after some of the heroin packages they had ingested burst in their stomachs in mid-flight. The suspected drug traffickers, Yahya Abdulkadir and Yosuf Said, had been arrested by Ethiopian police after they collapsed while on board two separate Ethiopian airline flights from Tanzania to China and China to Tanzania via Addis Ababa. According to latest media reports from the Ethiopian capital, some of the heroin pellets ingested by the suspects burst in their stomachs resulting in their deaths. They collapsed in their respective planes and were rushed to different hospitals in Addis Ababa where they were admitted. Hospital sources said more than 109 drug capsules were found in the stomach of one of the suspected drug traffickers travelling from Tanzania to China on an Ethiopian Airlines plane two weeks ago. He died last week after intensive medical care in Addis Ababa. Dr Behailu Haile, medical Director of Hayat Hospital in Addis said doctors found a bunch of capsules containing around 15 grammes of heroin each in the suspect's stomach. The other Tanzanian also arrested during his trip from China to Tanzania via Addis Ababa died on Monday this week while trying to smuggle drug pellets. They also burst in his stomach. Doctors said more than 42 drug capsules were found in his stomach. Seventeen pellets were surgically removed before he died. Officials could not immediately confirm if the bodies of the two Tanzanians had already been flown home for burial. Both the Director of Criminal Investigations (DCI), Commissioner of Police Robert Manumba, and the commander of the police anti-narcotics unit, Godfrey Nzowa, said yesterday that they had not been officially informed by Ethiopian authorities about the arrest and subsequent deaths of the Tanzanians. Investigations by THISDAY have since established that many Tanzanian youths are being recruited by local drug barons to smuggle drugs to and from the country. The so-called drug 'mules' are usually persuaded to swallow often more than a hundred packages containing cocaine and other types of narcotics as a way of escaping conditions of grinding poverty. The drug barons never warn the unsuspecting drug smugglers that they could end up in prison or that they would die if one of the packets burst in their stomachs. The high-risk enterprise for drug traffickers involves swallowing narcotics wrapped in condoms and latex gloves. Experts estimate that hundreds of Tanzanian couriers are currently involved in drug trafficking activities. Dar es Salaam-based couriers using the Tanzania-China route usually pose as traders as they go around their smuggling trips.