SUSPECTED CLOVE SMUGGLERS NAMES MADE PUBLIC

The Zanzibar government has received names of business tycoons who allegedly engage in clove smuggling on Pemba Island into neighbouring Kenya.

Zanzibar Minister for Trade, Industry and Marketing Nassor Ahmed Mazrui said the smuggling network which had been uncovered was being organised by two famous businessmen based on Pemba Island.

Speaking to this reporter recently, he said the two tycoons and suspected clove smugglers were living in Daya Mtambwe area close to Wete port in northern Pemba and had been purchasing both dry and unripe cloves from farmers at a slightly higher price than the government’s indicative price.

He said already the government had successfully seized 130 sacks of cloves that were being shipped to the neighbouring country.

He named the two suspects as Ali Omar and Omar Mkubwa Saleh.

Northern Pemba regional police commander Yahya Rashid Bugi confirmed to have received the reports, saying his office had started investigating the suspects.

Mazrui said the two suspects owned no clove farms and never hired clove farms but they were the main clove shippers through Mombasa port in Kenya.

The minister also said that world records showed that Kenya was the leading seller of clove in the world market while the country had not a single clove tree but was able to sell 2,260 tonnes and Zanzibar sold only 2,080 tonnes of cloves last year.

He said they had also discovered that the boats being used to ship cloves had been registered in Tanga region and a few in Zanzibar.

The police are still investigating the owners of the boats.

He revealed the places used to ship the cloves to Kenya were Mtambwe, Kigomasha, Msuka and Micheweni.

He said he was planning a meeting with the Kenya Minister responsible for trade and businesspersons from the country to discuss the problem, adding that Zanzibar was prepared to sell cloves to traders through legal markets monitored by the government.

East African Affairs minister Samuel Sitta said the problem had persisted. Sitta has been requested to take appropriate measures to help curb the problem.

The Zanzibar government has already taken action to control clove smuggling by registering all clove growers and establishing the amount, which they could produce to ensure whatever they produced went directly into government records.

He said one of the tricks illegal traders used to smuggle cloves was using water jerry cans pretending that it was water they were shipping.

The government has raised clove price to 15,000/- per kilo from 5,000/- for first the grade.

Already, 300 tonnes have been collected. The government has set aside 36bn/- for buying up to 3,000 tonnes of cloves.

The Zanzibar authorities have been accusing neighbouring Kenya of involvement in the smuggling of cloves from the Isles. Kenyan officials have, however, denied any involvements. In 2002, a Zanzibari claimed that Kenya's southern port of Shimoni was an off-loading point for smuggled Zanzibari cloves.

SOURCE: THE GUARDIAN