Drugs-linked ships not Tz’s - Mahiga

IT is now official; the Tanzanian flagged ships that were seized overseas with illicit drugs were deregistered last year.

The Minister of Foreign Affairs and East African Cooperation, Dr Augustine Mahiga, made the revelation yesterday at the Julius Nyerere International Convention Centre (JNICC) in Dar es Salaam.

Dr Mahiga disowned the Tanzania-flagged ships that Dutch and Greek authorities recently reported to have been found with drugs and explosives on board, when he met ambassadors from five countries that have membership in the UN Security Council. They were from USA, Russia, China, France and United Kingdom (UK).

On January 19, this year, President John Magufuli suspended the registration of new ships until further notice, barely a day after Vice-President Samia Suluhu Hassan announced deregistration of two Tanzania-flagged ships that Dutch and Greek authorities had reported to have found with drugs and explosives on board.

The Head of State issued the directive at JNICC when addressing employees of the Foreign Ministry, where he tasked the Minister for Works, Transport and Communications, Prof Makame Mbarawa and his Zanzibar counterpart, Ambassador Ali Abeid Karume, to fully implement the directive.

His directive was centred at putting new measures in place to make a thorough follow-up on the reports that revealed the seizure of illicit drugs aboard five Tanzanian-flagged ships. Apart from banning fresh registration of vessels, Dr Magufuli tasked the two ministers and security organs to launch a thorough investigation on all the 470 registered vessels in the country.

The President furtherdirected the Foreign Minister, Dr Mahiga, to implement the directives and make sure that the country’s image was not tarnished. “You should probe all the seized five Tanzanian flagged vessels and 470 others registered and operating in the country, because we cannot sit and see the image of our country being tarnished, simply because of a few people who are working in their own interests,” he remarked.

In what appears to be fresh revelations, Dr Mahiga was firm yesterday that the investigation following the President’s directive revealed that the ships had already been deregistered.

He stressed that Tanzania supported and was ready to implement UN Security Council decisions against North Korea and that continued use of Tanzania’s flag by the two ships while they had already been deregistered was illegal according to the UN Security Council laws.

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