Tanzania’s Zanzibar President, Hussein Ali Mwinyi, on Tuesday ordered law enforcement authorities to launch a crackdown on illegal ports.
“There are a number of illegal ports in Zanzibar that are being used for smuggling goods out of the islands or importing goods without paying due taxes,’’ said President Mwinyi when he addressed his monthly news conference at Vuga State House.
According to him, traders using the illegal ports are causing a huge loss to the government in revenue.
Mwinyi therefore ordered law enforcers, including the police and the army, to crack down on the illegal ports before the situation got out of control.
Although the president could not mention the number of illegal ports on the Zanzibar archipelago, a survey carried out by the Tanzania Ports Authority (TPA) in 2018 identified 134 illegal entry ports on lake shores and the shores of the Indian Ocean.
However, the survey indicated that the illegal ports were used to ship in contraband goods, including sugar, cooking oil, cement, timber, minerals and many others, that contributed to the suffocation of local industries.