Tanzania seizes 1,815 kg of skanka in Dar es Salaam; five held
Tanzania's Drug Control and Enforcement Authority seized 1,815 kg of high-THC cannabis known as skanka in the Mbezi and Magomeni areas of Dar es Salaam between late August and 2 September 2024. Five suspects were arrested, including a businessman described as a key distributor who brought the drug in from abroad hidden among other goods.
Tanzania’s Drug Control and Enforcement Authority (DCEA) seized1,815 kg of high-THC cannabis known locally as skanka in the Luguruni Mbezi and Magomeni areas of Dar es Salaam, in an operation running from late August to 2 September 2024.[1][2]Five suspects were arrested, including 47-year-old businessman Richard Henry Mwanri of Mbezi Makonde, whom the DCEA commissioner described as a key distributor who received drugs from abroad concealed among other goods.[1][2]
Also arrested were Felista Henry Mwanri, 70, who owned the house where the drugs were found in Luguruni Mbezi; Athumani Koja Mohamed, 58, a businessman from Tanga; Omary Chande Mohamed, 32, a bajaji driver from Buza; and Juma Abdallah Chapa, 36, of Kiwalani.[1][2]Officers also seized a Mitsubishi Pajero and a bajaji motorcycle taxi used in the trade.[2]
DCEA Commissioner General Aretas Lyimo announced the haul at a press conference on 10 September and urged border officers to stay vigilant, saying traffickers moved the drug into the country through crossings hidden in vehicles and goods.[1][2]
Case data
Every number and detail the sources state, with the sources that state it.
The countries the skanka was brought in from were not named in the opened sources.
No charges or court outcome for the five suspects were reported in the opened sources.
No verified photograph of the seized skanka could be recovered; the image published with one account shows evidence bags labelled by another country's agency.
Tanzania's Drug Control and Enforcement Authority announced on 29 September 2026 that July–September operations across 14 regions seized 18,078 kg of drugs including 11,504.76 kg of cannabis and 44.45 kg of skunk, arresting 289 suspects. Morogoro and Tabora accounted for most of the cannabis; vehicles used by traffickers were impounded.
Tanzania's Drug Control and Enforcement Authority reported destroying 603 acres of cannabis farms in four Mvomero district villages, seizing 49 bags of processed cannabis and arresting 13 suspects. Authorities also dismantled 21 temporary camps used by growers.
Police in Tanzania's Arusha region seized 269 bags of marijuana, weighing 26 tons, in a month-long crackdown across Arumeru district on the slopes of Mount Meru. The haul, described as the country's biggest cannabis seizure in recent years, was destroyed at the Muriet dumpsite near Arusha; no arrests were reported.
Police in Arusha seized 9,102 kg of cannabis in 267 bags from gorges and homes around Olkokora village on the slopes of Mount Meru, and burned a two-acre bhang farm. No arrests were reported when the seizure was announced on 30 October 2014.