By our reporter,
Tanzania’s High Court has sentenced two men to life imprisonment after convicting them of trafficking more than 15 kilograms of heroin, underscoring the country’s continued efforts to combat narcotics trafficking.
In a ruling delivered on June 1, 2026, Judge S.E. Kisanya of the High Court’s Corruption and Economic Crimes Division found Suleiman Thabit Ngulangwa and Farid Hamis Said guilty of engaging in the illegal trade of heroin weighing 15.19 kilograms.
The court ruled that prosecutors had proved beyond a reasonable doubt that the two men had the narcotics.
A government analyst from the Government Chemist Laboratory Authority, Leonida Daniel Michael, testified that scientific analysis confirmed 16 packages seized during the operation contained heroin with a combined weight of 15.19 kilograms.
Judge Kisanya said the defence failed to cast doubt on the prosecution’s evidence, which included witness testimony and forensic exhibits presented during the trial.
A third accused, Sharifa Selemani Bakari, was acquitted after the court found prosecutors had failed to establish her involvement in the offence.
In addition to the life sentences, the court ordered that all heroin seized in the case, together with the packaging materials used to conceal it, be destroyed in accordance with Tanzanian law.
Tanzania has stepped up anti-narcotics enforcement in recent years as authorities seek to curb the use of the country’s coastline and transport networks by international drug trafficking syndicates operating along the East African corridor
